COVID-19 pandemic and animals
[6][7] While research is inconclusive, pet owners reported that their animals contributed to better mental health and lower loneliness during COVID-19 lockdowns.
[10] SARS-CoV-2 is believed to have zoonotic origins and has close genetic similarity to bat coronaviruses, suggesting it emerged from a bat-borne virus.
Cats, dogs, ferrets, fruit bats, gorillas, pangolins, hamsters, mink, sea otters, pumas, snow leopards, tigers, lions, hyenas, hippos, tree shrews, and whitetail deer can be infected with and have tested positive at least once for the virus.
[3] According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the risk of transmission from animals to humans and vice versa is considerably low but further studies are yet to be conducted.
[16] As wild-life animals has been found to be infected with the virus, some wildlife species have benefited from the viral outbreak in ways where they can find new habitats due to reductions of outdoor human interactions.
[17] Animal deaths due to the disease are confirmed to have occurred on numerous occasions, with some species, such as mink, being particularly vulnerable and experiencing high mortality rates.
[23][24] SARS-CoV-2 or its antibodies have been regularly detected in white-tailed dear across at least 15 US states, and one Canadian province, potentially forming a natural reservoir of the virus.
[25][26] In January 2022, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's National Centre for Foreign Animal Disease confirmed SARS-CoV-2 in wild white-tailed deer in the province of Ontario.
American monkeys, lemurs, and lorises usually exhibit different amino acid contact residues which results in lowered modeled susceptibility of contracting COVID.
SARS-COVID exhibits a high degree of binding affinity to the ACE2 receptor which is the virus’s primary entry point into a host cell.
American monkeys, lemurs, and lorises usually exhibit different amino acid contact residues which results in lowered modeled susceptibility of contracting COVID.
Several of the gorillas displayed signs of Covid infection similar to humans of respiratory issues, lethargy and reduced food intake.
Infection of human originating diseases, such as measles, has consistently been one of the major causes of illness and death among the endangered mountain gorillas.
[35] The improper usage of personal protective equipment by researchers and zookeeper staff is the most common method of transmission of COVID-19 from humans to gorillas.
Translocation has been historically one of the largest risk points for the infection of great apes with human originating diseases, and then spreading them to new captive or wild populations.
Conscious of the virus' ability to spread among hamsters,[38] and the possibility of transmission between species, in line with the territory's 'zero covid' policy, the cull was invoked.
[40] Unfortunately, many of the species at high or moderate risk of the virus are already classified to be endangered or threatened, such as the Amazon River Dolphin, the Northern sea otter, and many others.
Since the pandemic began, the worldwide use of single use masks, hand sanitiser, and other personal protective equipment such as face shields, medical gloves, etc.
This poses a threat to marine mammals as much of the personal protective equipment used during the pandemic is composed of plastic-based materials that do not easily decompose in a natural environment.
[42] When chlorine enters the seawater on items such as lysol wipes, hand sanitizers, and various other disinfectants, it reacts chemically to produce halogenated compounds that are toxic to marine biota.
Domestic wastewater systems among Australia, France, Italy and Spain have been found to contain traces of the virus and are vulnerable to it being a form of transmission.
The ability to detect the virus and its abundance in a given location is important to help mitigate its transmission in the surrounding areas and to marine life.
[46] Human-activity examples that could have affected the increase in these sightings include the reduction of accidental death or injury due to boat collisions, decreases in maritime traffic that causes noise pollution, and an expansion in the habitat in which to live.
The sightings included very strikingly visible marine mammals such as baleen whales, dugongs, manatees, dolphins and orcas.
[17] Some studies showed that, for example, urban birds might be highly resilient to the changes in human activity driven by the COVID-19 lockdowns.
