Two zoos , in Denver and Oakland , have start vaccinating their big cats and prelate , some of the animal most at - peril of contracting the coronavirus .
Some of the first animals to receive a COVID-19 vaccine are seemingly straight out ofThe Wizard of Oz : lions , Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , and bears .
Normally I would n’t lead off a write up with such acliche — and run a risk last at the workforce of former redaction professors in the process — but that ’s who was first in bank line to get a coronavirus vaccinum at the Oakland Zoo late last month : Panthera tigris , black and hoar bears , and mountain Panthera leo .
Photo: Courtesy of Oakland Zoo
The vaccinum will hopefully help prevent our zoo brute from contracting COVID-19 , especially from us human race who might visit zoos while unknowingly gestate the virus .
Animal wellness care society Zoetis has donated more than 11,000 doses of its experimental COVID-19 vaccinum to about 80 zoos , sanctuaries , conservatories , pedantic institutions , and governmental performance , Zoetis said in anews release . Two of the almost 70 menagerie were the Oakland and Denver zoo .
Ferrets joined the LTTE , bears , and mountain lions as the high - risk animal who receive the first of their two venereal disease after the Oakland Zoo received its share of vaccine June 29 . Pan troglodytes , fruit at-bat , and pigs are next on the list . So far , the animate being who received the vaccine are " doing great , " zoo spokeswoman Erin Harrisontold CNN .
Courtesy of Oakland Zoo
According toKUNC , the Denver Zoo will vaccinate its bountiful cats and high priest first — but not its fruit bat because they have minimal contact with human and vaccinating so many of them would turn up challenging .
The vaccines are another carapace for the animals , along with zookeepers wearing PPE and barrier at exhibits that enforce societal distancing , Alex Herman , frailty president of Veterinary services at Oakland Zoo , say in the tidings press release .
" We ’re happy and exempt to now be capable to better protect our animals with this vaccine , " Herman added in a statement .
Why Zoo Animals Need a COVID-19 Vaccine
In the simplest of terms , they need it because the computer virus can make them sick as well . Apes at the San Diego Zoo Safari Parkcontracted the virusearlier this year and were then the first toreceive doses of the data-based Zoetis vaccine .
The first bang menagerie animal to contract the virus was a tigerat the Bronx Zoo in New York City . Since then , other zoological garden fauna have become infected , most often after come in contact with humans carrying the virus , the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionsay . In some cases , animals contract it from their caretakers , even though the humankind were wear out PPE .
( That ’s why you should social - space away from your positron emission tomography if you guess you ’ve catch the virus . )
However , there is still " no evidence that animals toy a pregnant part in spreading SARS - CoV-2 to people , " the CDC say .
The Zoetis vaccine is similar to its human counterparts in dosage — two snapshot , three weeks asunder — but it ’s designed differently ground on the substance that birth the vaccinum ’s antigens ( known as the adjuvant ) , Zeotis says in its news release . The pharmaceutical fellowship in the beginning commence design the vaccine for domesticated hound and cats . Infections for those deary are rarefied , so United States favorite parent are n’t lining up for pet vaccine , but that has n’t stoppedcountries like Russia .
