Three endangered snow leopards have died from Covid complications in Nebraska’s Lincoln children’s zoo. Other animals at the zoo are still recovering.
The children’s zoo made the announcement on Friday, stating, “Ranney, Everest, and Makalu were beloved by our entire community inside and outside of the zoo.
This loss is truly heartbreaking, and we are all grieving together.”
Last month the zoo also started to treat two Sumatran tigers that had contracted Covid. The two tigers are now on the road to recovery after being sick.
Despite the spread of Covid amongst the tigers and snow leopards, the zoo continued to have visitors come to look at the animals, taking a huge risk as people and animals were exposed to one another repeatedly.
Not only are zoos harmful to the well-being of their captive animals, but they also put the animals in increased danger of contracting infectious diseases.
Zoos need to take more precautions than ever right now as many animals are coming down with Covid.
It is their responsibility to keep them healthy, especially since these animals would most likely never be exposed to Covid in their wild habitats.
This is yet another reason why zoos need to be phased out and resources reallocated to conserve wild animal populations instead.
This article by Abigail Jane was first published by OneGreenPlanet on 16 November 2021. Lead Image Source : Dave Sherrill/Unsplash.
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