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In Indonesia, two male Sumatran tigers are recovering from the coronavirus after testing positive in mid-July, and officials are trying to determine how they were infected.
Jakarta city government officials said that two critically endangered male Sumatran tigers at a zoo in the capital of Indonesia tested positive for the coronavirus but are expected to recover.
Suzi Marsitawati, director of the Jakarta Parks and Urban Forestry Bureau, said on Sunday that 9-year-old Tino and 12-year-old Harry are receiving medication and are under close observation by a veterinarian at Ragunan Zoo.
Tino began to experience symptoms such as sneezing, difficulty breathing, and loss of appetite on July 9. Two days later, Hari began to show the same symptoms.
Masitawati said that samples taken from animals on July 14 tested positive for the virus.
These two critically endangered big cats are believed to be the first known cases of COVID-19 in an animal in Indonesia.
“The two tigers have received medications, including antibiotics and multivitamins, since they began to show symptoms. After 12 days of taking the medication, their condition began to improve and they are expected to recover,” Marsitawati said.
“Their appetite is back, and they are active again.”
She added in a statement that the zoo is still working to track how the tigers were exposed, because when the cats began to show symptoms, the facility was closed under pandemic-related restrictions in Jakarta.
“When the tiger started to get sick, we have tracked all the caretakers and zoo staff on duty, but so far, none of them have been exposed to COVID-19,” Marsitawati said.
The Sumatran tiger is the only remaining tiger subspecies in Indonesia, with only 600 remaining. Two other subspecies-the Java tiger and the Bali tiger-have become extinct.
Indonesia has always been Southeast Asia Hardest hit area During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of infections in the country exceeded 3.4 million and the death toll was approximately 94,000.
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