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 Three among the band of critically endangered western lowland
gorillas at the sprawling wildlife park have shown symptoms of the
respiratory virus, such as coughing, though none appears severely
ill, and all are expected to fully recover, the zoo said in online
statements.
Laboratory analysis of a fecal sample collected last Wednesday from
one of two gorillas initially seen coughing detected the presence of
the virus two days later, zoo spokesman Andrew James said.
The positive results were confirmed on Monday by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture (USDA) National Veterinary Services Laboratories, the
zoo said on its website.
While the test was definitive for only a single animal, all eight
gorillas are presumed by zoo officials to have been exposed to and
possibly infected with SAR-CoV-2, the scientific name of the virus
that causes COVID-19.
"Gorilla troops live together in both our zoological natural habitat
and the wild, and we have to assume, as we do with human families,
that all members of the family group have been exposed," the zoo
said in a fact sheet.
James added that human-style collection of mucus or saliva samples
from individual gorillas is considered too risky for the apes.
The gorillas are believed to have contracted the virus from an
asymptomatic staff member, despite adherence to strict bio-security
protocols consistent with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention guidelines, the zoo said.
Rigorous infection-control measures were in place there well before
the pandemic because apes - as close biological cousins to humans -
are especially susceptible to human-carried pathogens while lacking
natural immunity to them, James said.
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 Zoo officials said they do not
know how the coronavirus will ultimately affect
gorillas or what additional symptoms may occur.
"Aside from some congestion and coughing, the
gorillas are doing well," Lisa Peterson,
executive director of the San Diego Zoo Safari
Park, said in the statement. "The troop remains
quarantined together and are eating and
drinking. We are hopeful for a full recovery."
The gorilla troop at the 1,800-acre San Diego Safari Park consists
of five females and three males, including an elder "silverback"
named Winston about 45 years old, James said. At least eight other
gorillas exhibited at the nearby San Diego Zoo were not affected.
Both facilities have been closed to the public due to the pandemic
since early December.
The coronavirus has also been found in a number of other wild-animal
species in captivity, including several lions and tigers at the
Bronx Zoo in New York and four lions at the Barcelona Zoo in Spain.
But the gorillas in San Diego are the first known case of infections
confirmed in apes, James said. Gorillas are members of the family of
primates known as the great apes, or hominids, that also include
chimpanzees, orangutans, bonobos and humans.
The virus has also shown up in a number of household dogs and cats.
Last month, the USDA said it had confirmed the first known case of
the coronavirus in an animal in the wild, a mink, following an
outbreak among farmed minks that killed 15,000 of the animals.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney
and Jacqueline Wong)
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