As Tiger King is all the top of the things to watch list, a realtime tiger saga is brewing in the heart of New York as a tiger as the Bronx Zoo becomes the first animal in the U.S. to test positive for Covid-19.
The tiger is a 4 year old Malaysia tiger named Nadia, who is believed to have been infected by a zoo worker. Six other animals at the zoo have become ill and may also be infected with the virus. The first animal fell ill on March 27th, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson.
The zoo’s chief veterinarian, Dr. Paul Calle said they had tested the tiger out of “an abundance of caution.”
Several reports out of China have suggested that dometicated animals including dogs and cats may be susceptible to the virus. It is unclear whether the virus causes the same illness in animals and whether infected animals are capable of transmitting the virus back to humans.
