Two lionesses of Etawah safari park test positive for COVID-19

Etawah, May: Two lionesses at the Etawah safari park have been found infected from COVID-19, the director of the park said here on Friday.

The samples of four-year-old lioness Gauri and nine-year-old Jennifer were sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) Bareilly and the reports came out to be positive, the director, K K Singh, said.

Both the lionesses were having an appetite loss and fever. The blood and stool samples of the lionesses were sent to the IVRI early this week.

On Thursday evening, the doctors at the IVRI told the authorities of the wildlife park about the infection.

As per the advice, the lionesses were kept in isolation and medical treatment had begun, the director said.

But, both the lioness have to be admitted to the park's hospital as their condition deteriorated.

The authorities have sent samples of all the 14 lions to the IVRI Bareilly.

The authorities suspect that the lioness may have got infected at the breeding center of the parkas a worker was found to be COVID-19 infected recently.

After the incident, the security in the park has been stepped up. All employees of the park have been asked to wear the PPE kits.

Samples of all the employees have been sent to a laboratory for the RTPCR test and no one is allowed to even come near the wildlife park.

Earlier, eight lions of the Hyderabad zoo were found to be COVID-19 infected.