Gorillas nearly recovered from COVID

Weeks after gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park contracted COVID-19, park officials say the primates will make a full recovery.

The eight gorillas were probably exposed to the novel coronavirus by a keeper who tested positive for it in early January.

Days later, a few gorillas began coughing.

Nearly the entire troop seemed a bit less energetic than usual,said Lisa Peterson, executive director of the park.

Park staff confirmed the diagnosis by testing the gorillas’ feces for the coronavirus. Those samples came back positive for the “California

variant,” s, a fastspreading strain linked to at least 14 COVID-19 cases in San Diego County and 446 infections statewide — and counting.

Since then, the park’s veterinary team has monitored the troop to make sure that they are eating and drinking enough to recover on their own.

“We’re not seeing any of that lethargy. No coughing, no runny noses anymore,” Peterson said. “It feels to us like we’ve turned the corner.”

Fecal samples from the gorillas are no longer testing positive for the virus.

There was one gorilla Safari Park staff kept an especially close eye on: Winston, the troop’s leader, a 49-yearold silverback.

The team found that Winston had pneumonia, likely due to COVID-19, as well as heart disease, one of the underlying medical conditions that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked to more severe coronavirus infections in humans.

Winston received antibiotics, heart medication and an antibody treatment meant to block the virus from infecting cells.

Winston has been more active since being treated with the antibody, the park said.

It’s the first known case of the virus infecting any of the great apes — a group that includes gorillas, bonobos, chimps and orangutans.

Humans share about 98% of our DNA with gorillas.

To safeguard the animals, Peterson said, some of them will receive the COVID-19 vaccine — though, like Winston’s antibody treatment, the vaccine comes from a supply not permitted for use in people.

“The hope is that we would be able to vaccinate wildlife that would be susceptible to illness and then prevent them from ever catching it,” she said.

Nearly all of the veterinarians and others at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park who work with animals have received a COVID-19 vaccine, Peterson said.