A year ago, world was striving to attain freedom from the clutches of novel coronavirus. Humans were fortunate enough to protect themselves from deadly infection with the help of precautionary measures and timely vaccines. However, the same does not stand true for animals. A Guardian report states how two hippos — Imani and Hermien — at Antwerp Zoo in Belgium contracted Covid from humans. Although they have been diagnosed only with running noses but other animals were not so lucky. Many of them succumbed after contracting the virus. Three snow leopards staying in a children’s zoo in Nebraska breathed their last due to Covid infections. Many cases of infections in gorillas, lions, tigers and cougars have also been reported since 2020. Observing these incidents, animals in zoos around the world are being given an experimental covid vaccine to make them safe from the virus. According to Margaret Hosie, professor of comparative virology at the University of Glasgow’s Centre for Virus Research, efforts are being made to eradicate the virus in humans. Although there is a high possibility that viruses could be having mutations in an animal species.
Among the animals, cat and dog infections are very common. The first case of animal infection in February 2020 was of a dog from Hong Kong testing positive from its infected owner.
Describing why more emphasis is being laid on studying virus mutations between humans and animals, Hosie recalled an incident back in November 2020, when there was news stating how a virus has transported from humans to mink, mutated and then jumped back again. According to Hosie, that was a wake-up call to study the virus mutations between humans and animals.
Now the question arises about how these animals can be protected. One step could be to keep infected farm animals under quarantine. This step was undertaken in the case of farm mink.
Vaccinating the animals could also be an option. A Covid-19 vaccine Karnivak-Kov was approved by Russia’s state veterinary service use on fur farms or for cats and dogs.
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