Covid vax for big cats: 2 lions jabbed in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: The much-awaited field trial of Covid-19 vaccine on the big cats finally began at Sakkarbaug zoo in Junagadh with the first doses administered to three leopards and two lions. None of the five caged animals are part of the zoo's conservation breeding programme.
Jagdishbhai Panchal, minister of state for forest, environment and climate change, confirmed the trial and said that all the five animals are doing fine at present and are being continuously monitored by the team of veterinary doctors. "A team of vaccine developers from ICAR-National Research injected the first dose of the vaccine into the animals," he said.
After the novel coronavirus claimed the lives of two lions in Chennai zoo, the Centre entrusted NRCE to develop a shot. Sakkarbaug in Junagadh was one of the six zoos in the country where clinical trials were to be conducted on lions and leopards to test the vaccine efficacy in keeping them safe. The zoo is a nodal facility for lion breeding in the country.
Sources said that the vaccine, designed specifically for the animals, will be administered in two doses with a gap of 28 days between them. The animals will be observed for antibodies for nearly two months after the second dose is administered.
"While granting permission, the ministry specified that only those zoos with more than 15 animals of one species in captivity were permitted to conduct the trials," the officials said. The other five zoos chosen for trials were in Delhi, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Bhopal, and Jaipur.
"The vaccine was administered to the animals in captivity. It was made clear to the authorities that under no circumstance should the vaccine be given to the big cats in the wild nor should the animals be part of any breeding or conservation programme," the officials said.
The possibility of animals contracting novel coronavirus first came to light when a four-year-old female tiger, Nadia, and six others tested positive at the Bronx Zoo in New York City in April 2020. The animals were infected after getting exposed to an asymptomatic zookeeper.
The first confirmed incident of animals contracting Covid in India was when eight Asiatic lions at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad tested positive. Zoo officials raised an alarm when they saw the lions wheezing with dry cough, nasal discharge and loss of appetite.
A senior officer confirmed that the vaccine dose was injected into the animals in their cages at Sakkarbaug zoo.