3 more Vandalur Zoo lions recover from Covid, test results awaited for 5 others

Three lions at Arignar Anna Zoological Park, Vandalur, that had tested positive for Covid-19 have recovered while the results for five other lions are awaited, said officials.

“Earlier, faecal samples had tested negative. Now, we have taken nasal and rectal swabs of three lions, including one at the safari, and the results are negative,” said Naga Sathish, Deputy Director of the zoo.

"We cannot collect the samples together, because we have to squeeze the animal to take the sample. In order to not stress the animals unnecessarily, we took samples in phases. The results of the remaining lions are expected in a couple of days," he added.

Kavitha and Bhuvana, the oldest of the lionesses, are also out of danger, Naga said. “With COVID, we don’t know how the lions are responding, because they have been getting symptoms on and off. Now, all the lions have recovered completely, and the feeding pattern is slowly returning to normal. Hopefully, we are almost coming out of the situation,” he added.

Meanwhile, canine distemper test was done for the animals and the results were negative, said the official, adding that 50 doses of CDV vaccines have arrived from Etawah Safari Park in Uttar Pradesh.

“We don’t want to rush to vaccinate the lions, as they have just recovered from Covid-19. After checking them, we will vaccinate them whenever it is feasible,” the official added.