5 cats caught from COVID-19 ward die in Kasargod, Organs to be examined

5 cats caught from COVID-19 ward die in Kasargod, Organs to be examined

Mangalore Today News Network

Kasargod, April 10, 2020: In the US, it was recently confirmed that COVID-19 was spreading from human to animal as well after a female tiger was infected by the virus. Following this, all zoological parks in India were given alert.

On March 28, two male cats, one female cat, and two kittens, that were found loitering in the Covid-19 wards, were caught from Kasargod general hospital. While the female cat died within two days, the other three cats have also died now. The authorities said that the cats died after being caught from the COVID ward. Though nothing unnatural was found about the cat’s death, the animal husbandry department has sent the vital organs for detailed examination at the State Institute of Animal Disease Centre in Thiruvananthapuram.

As per the official report, the experts did not detect any "trace of COVID-19" and that "stress" could be the reason behind the death of the cats, which were kept in a small crate with little passage of air. "Since the cats were caught from the COVID ward, the postmortem was conducted. No trace of COVID-19 could be detected... we decided to send the internal organs to Thiruvananthapuram," Dr. Tito Joseph, who conducted the postmortem.

"The stray cats were caged immediately. It is certain that they could not adapt to the situation in the crate. So we believe stress could be the reason for their death. But since it happened during COVID-19 scare we cannot take a chance. That is the reason why a detailed examination of the internal organs of the cats was decided," Dr. Joseph said.