St. Louis, MO - The Saint Louis Zoo announced that eight of its big cats have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. They say all the animals were vaccinated and are expected to make full recoveries.
The infected animals are two African lions, two snow leopards, two jaguars, an Amur tiger, and a puma. The zoo says most showed no signs of illness, except for a few who showed decreased appetite, less activity, ocular and nasal discharge, and developed a cough for a couple of days.
The zoo says all guests should feel safe when visiting because the infected animals are vaccinated and only visible outdoors in open spaces with significant distance between guests and animals.
The zoo says all of its animals in Big Cat Country received a two-dose series of the vaccine between Sept. 30 and Oct. 26, but were likely exposed prior to the second dose. As of today, 50 animals at the zoo have received both SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses specific for animals and another 42 have received one dose.
“As in humans, we would expect that full protection against this virus would not be developed until a few weeks after the second injection in a series,” said Sathya Chinnadurai, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACZM, Dipl. ACVAA, Dipl. ACAW, Director of Animal Health, Saint Louis Zoo. “The vaccine, even partial immunization, likely helped our cats be able to mount a stronger immune response, and show fewer signs of illness for a shorter period of time than they would have if not previously vaccinated."