A snow leopard has contracted COVID-19 at the San Diego Zoo in the United States. Zoo employees noticed on Thursday that the 9-year-old male Ramil was coughing and had a runny nose.
His poop was tested, and the zoo confirmed that the virus was detected.
Ramil shows no additional symptoms and appears to be doing well, the zoo said in a statement on Friday.
He lives with a female snow leopard and two Amur leopards. They are all being quarantined and monitored by veterinarians. In 2017, Ramil had his left eye removed because of a chronic eye infection.
San Diego Zoo is in the process of vaccinating its animals, but Ramil had not been vaccinated yet.
It’s not known how and from who the snow leopard got the virus. In January, gorillas at the San Diego Zoo contracted COVID-19 from an employee.
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