5:32 pm: Tiger at the Bronx Zoo tests positive for the coronavirus
A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York
has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The 4-year-old female Malaysian tiger, Nadia, had developed a dry cough and was tested “out of an abundance of caution,” the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo
said in a statement.
The diagnosis was confirmed by the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories. It is the first confirmed COVID-19 case in a tiger,
according to the USDA.
Several tigers and lions at the zoo showed symptoms of a respiratory illness, the USDA said.
The tiger who tested positive is believed to have become infected by a zoo employee. The tiger first began to show symptoms on March 27, the USDA said.
— Kevin Stankiewicz