A zoo in the US state of Texas is set to vaccinate its animals against COVID-19, according to a press release.
The San Antonio Zoo’s lions and tigers will be among the first animals to get their coronavirus vaccine doses in the coming weeks.
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“The first zoo animals to receive the vaccine will be the African lions, Sumatran tigers, white-cheeked gibbons, and Francois langur,” the press release said.
The COVID-19 vaccine is uniquely made for animals and donated by the animal health company, Zoetis.
Zoetis, an American drug company that produces medicine and vaccinations for pets and animals, is donating its experimental COVID-19 vaccine for animals to the San Antonio Zoo.
“Experimental use is being authorized by the US Department of Agriculture and the Texas state veterinarian. Although the zoo’s first vaccine recipients will be large cats and primates, more species are due to receive the vaccine as it becomes available,” the press release by the San Antonio Zoo said.
“We are very excited to be one of the initial zoos in the country to obtain and administer the Zoetis vaccine,” the release added.
We’re scheduled to receive our first shipment of a COVID-19 vaccine for animals and plans to administer the first doses in the coming weeks. The species to be vaccinated are our large and medium cat species, lesser apes, other primates, mongoose, monk, ferrets, and otters pic.twitter.com/sQ69GJoRJk
— San Antonio Zoological Society 🦏 (@SanAntonioZoo) August 31, 2021
According to Zoetis, the company’s COVID-19 vaccine for animals has been authorized for experimental use on a case-by-case basis by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the appropriate state veterinarians.
“The vaccine deployment to dozens of zoos follows Zoetis’ response in January to a request from the San Diego Zoo following confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the gorillas at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park,” Zoetis said, adding that it will be donating more than 11,000 doses of its experimental vaccine to help protect the health and well-being of animals in nearly 70 zoos.
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