Several gorillas at the San Diego zoo safari park have tested positive for covid-19 which is first of its case in such primitives and also across the world.
Lisa Peterson, the park’s executive director on Monday said that eight gorillas who live together at the park are believed to have the virus and several have been coughing.
It appears the infection came from a member of the park’s wildlife care team who also tested positive for the virus but has been asymptomatic. The presence of covid-19 in gorillas has been confirmed through their faecal samples.
Veterinarians are closely monitoring the gorillas, who will remain in their habitat at the park, north of San Diego, according to Peterson. “Aside from some congestion and coughing, the gorillas are doing well,” she said.
The apes will remain quarantined together and are given vitamins, food, and fluids but specific treatment, Peterson added.
The park has been closed to the public since December 6 as part of the state of California's lockdown efforts to curb coronavirus cases.
Apart from Gorillas, other wildlife animals have also extracted the deadly coronavirus from minks to tigers, but this is the first known occurrence of transmission to great apes and it is unknown if they will have any serious reaction.
Wildlife experts have expressed concern about gorillas getting infected by the virus, an endangered species that share 98.4 per cent of their DNA with humans. While according to the World Wildlife Fund.
The gorillas infected at the San Diego safari park are western lowland gorillas, whose population has declined by more than 60% over the last two decades because of poaching and disease.
Faeces from all eight in the troop are being taken for testing.
Zoo officials are consulting with experts involved in treating covid-19 in humans in case the animals' develop more severe symptoms, by that time these primitives will remain together since separating them could be harmful to the gorillas that live in tight-knit groups.
"This is wildlife, and they have their resiliency and can heal differently than we do," Peterson said.
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The park on Monday has included more safety measures for its staff including requiring face shields and eye goggles when working in contact with the animals.
The evidence that gorillas are susceptive to the covid-19 disease contributes to information about how the pandemic may affect these species in their native habitats where they come into contact with humans and human materials, the park officials said.