Tiger in US zoo tests positive for coronavirus, becomes first animal to get COVID-19

Tiger in US zoo tests positive for CORONAVIRUS, becomes first animal to get COVID-19

Nadia, a tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York

Nadia, a tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York, has become the first of her kind to test positive for the coronavirus.

Samples from Nadia were taken and tested after the tiger -- and five other tigers and lions at the zoo -- began showing symptoms of respiratory illness, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). No other animals at the zoo are showing symptoms.

But officials believe this is a unique case because Nadia became sick after exposure to an asymptomatic zoo employee, Paul Calle, chief veterinarian at the Bronx Zoo, told Reuters. Calle said they did not know which employee infected the tiger.

"This is the first time that any of us know of anywhere in the world that a person infected the animal and the animal got sick," Calle said, adding that they planned to share the findings with other zoos and institutions. "Hopefully we will all have a better understanding as a result."

While the other tigers and lions were also exhibiting symptoms, the zoo decided to test only Nadia because she was the sickest and had started to lose her appetite, and they did not want to subject all the cats to anesthesia, Calle said."The tigers and lions weren't terribly sick," he said.

"The tigers and lions weren't terribly sick," Calle said.

The American Veterinary Medical Association and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been recommending that out of an abundance of caution, people ill with the coronavirus should limit contact with animals — advice that the veterinary group reiterated after learning of the tiger's test result.