Amid the rising cases of the deadly COVID-19 in India, animals are too on the verge of getting infected by the virus. After a tigress named Kalpana in a zoo in Delhi, died of kidney failure this week, samples from the wild cat are sent for coronavirus testing. The incident has raised an alarm in the Delhi zoo about the facilities available there. Reports inform that the sample of the dead tigress has been sent for coronavirus testing. This comes in a day after, reports of four tigers and three lions at the Bronx zoo were discovered to have tested positive for COVID 19. 

As per reports, 14-year-old tigress named Kalpana has passed away on Wednesday although she was doing fine till Sunday. On Tuesday evening, she became sick and passed away the next day. Authorities tried to save her but were unsuccessful. Officials told PTI that Kalpana suffered from kidney failure. But as the fear of Coronavirus in animals looms over, a postmortem was conducted and the samples have been sent for testing. The postmortem reports found high levels of creatinine. Tiger Nadia Tests Positive for Coronavirus in New York Zoo: From Dogs to Cats, Here's The List of Animals Infected by COVID-19 in Different Parts of The World.

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The reports of Coronavirus in big cats first came in late March when a four-year-old Malayan tiger named Nadia tested positive. It was believed that she contracted the virus from her caretaker who was asymptomatic. Following Nadia's infection, three other tigers and African lions showed symptoms like a dry cough. After the test samples were collected, all of them have tested positive for COVID-19, also including one tiger that did not show any symptoms for the disease.

Ever since news of Nadia contracting Coronavirus infection came out, Indian zoos have been on high alert. The zoo officials have been asked to keep an eye on the animals 24/7 through CCTV for any symptoms or abnormal behaviour as a precautionary measure. Although all the zoos and parks in the country are closed in the lockdown, careful measures have to be taken to see if any animals have contracted the disease.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 24, 2020 04:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).