When it came time for Archy the ferret to get his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, the Oakland zookeepers had to give him a special little treat of vitamin paste smeared on one of their fingers to get keep him from squirming away. But other than that, Archy took the shot like a champ.
On Tuesday, the Oakland Zoo received its first shipment of 100 experimental Covid-19 vaccinations for animals. So far they have been able to administer the first dose of the vaccine to 11 animals — tigers, black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions and, of course, Archy.
The Oakland Zoo has not had a single case of Covid-19 among its animals, but it isn't taking any chances, especially with the uptick in variants.
A group of apes at San Diego Zoo Safari Park tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this year. Besides gorillas, an assortment of animals has been infected including big cats, bears, minks, dogs and domestic cats.
"Now with the
Delta variant, which seems like it's more contagious, we just want to be really careful," said Dr. Alex Herman, vice president of veterinary services at Oakland Zoo. "Many of these animals are endangered species. They're very precious individuals and we don't want them to get sick."
Herman said the Zoo has 110 animals at risk of Covid-19 — all of which need two doses of the vaccine. Not only will it take some months to get all the animals, but the Zoo will also need another 120 doses.
The 100 vaccines were donated by Zoetis, the New Jersey maker of drugs for animals and livestock, and Herman is expecting to get another shipment of vaccines in August in order to vaccinate all the at-risk animals.
The global animal health company is donating 11,000 doses of its experimental Covid-19 vaccines to nearly 70 zoos.
The United States Department of Agriculture has authorized
Zoetis' animal vaccine for experimental use on a case-by-case basis.
Today, the Oakland Zoo is pretty much fully open, bouncing back after a rough pandemic year that
included almost closing for good and the departure of its
longtime CEO and champion Dr. Joel Parrott.
With the vaccine, staff can breathe a sigh of relief now that they don't have to rely entirely on social distancing and PPE to protect Covid-19 susceptible animals.
While vaccinating Archy the ferret was easy, giving shots to the larger animals, like the tigers and bears, is a bit more of a production.
Ginger, an elderly tiger at the Oakland Zoo, was the Zoo's first animal to receive a vaccination against Covid-19.
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OAKLAND ZOO
The first to get vaccinated was Ginger, an elderly tiger. The zookeepers gave her a spritz of goat's milk in her mouth as a little treat, while the veterinary nurse gave her the shot in her back leg.
"As you can imagine getting an elderly tiger into position and giving her treats and having the keepers there and the Oakland Zoo veterinary hospital nurses, it's a coordinated effort," said Herman. "It took us all day to do 11 vaccines and we have 220 to give."
Though it does take coordination, Herman said the big animals have been trained over the years to perform what they call "voluntary behaviors," which include learning to get hand injections and other preventive care procedures. That way, they don't have to sedate animals and can instead work with them using positive reinforcement training.
And while it may not surprise you, not one of the animals has refused to get vaccinated
"No tiger, no Jaguar, no bear has told me that they're not interested in the vaccine," Herman said. "All of them have been very compliant — no anti-vaxxers."