The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
... there’s testing a tigerrrrrrr
BRIDGEPORT — While the state tentatively plans to start to reopen places including the state’s only zoo in the coming weeks, staff at the Beardsley Zoo are prepared should an animal at the facility be infected with COVID-19.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced in late April that some establishments, ranging from zoos with outdoor exhibits to restaurants with outdoor seating, can reopen on May 20 — so long as Connecticut doesn’t see a surge in cases or hospitalizations.
For Connnecticut’s Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, staff have been prepared to reopen since the facility closed to visitors because of the new coronavirus back in March, according to zoo Director Gregg Dancho.
“We have to do it the right way when we reopen,” he said during a recent interview. “It’s still very tentative.”
But while planning for a reopening is difficult enough, Dancho said, the facility’s staff also has to continue to care for its animals, knowing that some cats at another facility have tested positive for the virus after showing symptoms.
Dancho said the Bridgeport zoo — which has many big cats including two Amur tigers and two Amur leopards — immediately had staffers working with the big cats don additional protective gear when news spread that a tiger at the Bronx
Zoo in New York had tested positive for COVID-19.
The Bronx Zoo confirmed on
April 5 that 4year-old Nadia, a
Malayan tiger, had been infected with the new coronavirus. She was the first animal to show symptoms, the zoo said in a statement.
Samples were collected from Nadia’s nose, throat and respiratory tract while under anesthesia, the Bronx Zoo said.