All zoos in India have been asked to remain on ‘highest alertness’ and monitor animals 24x7 for any abnormal behavior, after a tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York tested positive for the coronavirus.

Zoos have also been asked to send samples of animals suspected to be sick, to three designated animal health institutes to initiate COVID-19 testing.

The Central Zoo Authority, the apex body for all zoos in India, issued an advisory in this regard on Monday.

“Zoos in the country, are therefore, advised to remain on highest alertness, watch animals on 24x7 basis, using CCTv for any abnormal behavior and symptoms, keepers and handlers not to be allowed in the vicinity without safety gear preferably PPE (personal protective equipment), isolate and quarantine sick animals, and have least contact whole provding feed to animals,” the advisory issued by the CZAI said.

A four-year-old female Malayan tiger named Nadia tested positive for the coronavirus at the Bronx Zoo.

There are around 160 recognised zoos in India with more than 56,800 captive animal in them. All zoos are presently closed because of the lockdown.

The CZAI advisory also says “Mammals like carnivor esespecially cats, ferrets and primates to be carefully monitored and fort nightly samples of suspected cases to be sent to the designated animal health institutes to initiate COVID-19 testing while following all bio-containment and safety measures required to handle this high risk pathogen as per the national and ICMR guidelines.”

It also says that all zoo personnel will have to to strictly adhere to safety and disinfection protocol issued by the government, time totime, on novel coronavirus disease.

“Further zoos are advised to coordinate with designated nodal agencies of the government responsible for public health response and permit screening, testing and surveillance and diagnostic samples as and when required by the nodal agency,” it says.

An earlier non-peer reviewed study published in Bio Rxiv had found that ferrets and cats are susceptible to contracting coronavirus (Covid-19) but not dogs, ducks, chickens and pigs. According to the study,these findings can be important for vaccine and antiviral drug development forthe disease. BioRxiv is a free online archive and distribution service for unpublished preprints in life sciences.

There is, however, no reason for panic among pet keepers or cat lovers because the findings are based on only lab experiments, and there has been no study on whether cats can pass on the infection to humans,according to experts. It is also unclear which species of cats was used for the experiments for the study.