LIONESS DIES OF COVID, TIGER TOO SUSPECTED VICTIM

CHENNAI/RANCHI: A 9-year-old lioness, Neela, died in the Arignar Anna Zoological Park or Vandalur Zoo outside Chennai on Thursday after a Covid-19 outbreak among Asiatic lions was reported, the Tamil Nadu government said on Friday. A tiger is also suspected to have died of Covid in a Ranchi zoo on Thursday night. Nine of 13 lions in Vandalur Zoo were tested for the virus a few days ago. “A few of the lions were symptomatic and one of them, a 9-year-old lioness, Neela, succumbed to the disease,” a forest department statement said. A statement from the zoo earlier in the day said the lioness had been asymptomatic and showed nasal discharge on June 2 and was treated symptomatically immediately. The forest department said other lions have been quarantined and senior vets from the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) are supervising treatment, which has started with antibiotics and prophylactic drugs. At Ranchi’s Bhagwan Birsa Biological Park, a 10-yearold tiger died showing Covid symptoms such as fever on Thursday, officials said on Friday, adding that a rapid antigen test indicated the animal did not have a Covid-19 infection.