The spectre of COVID-19 has made its appearance in one of India’s most storied tiger reserves. The death of a 10-year-old ailing male tiger, in the Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) — the country’s most munificent reserve —that succumbed to a ‘respiratory illness’ last Saturday would have been a routine affair. The people who handled the dead tiger and were involved in its post-mortem would be tested for the infection, PTR Field Director, Vikram Singh Parihar told The Hindu. The viscera samples collected as part of the standard protocol have been preserved and will be sent to the veterinary research college in Jabalpur as well as the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh. The designated testing centres are the National Institute of High Security Animal Disease, Bhopal; National Research Centres on Equines, Haryana; Centre for Animal Disease Research and Diagnostics, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Uttar Pradesh.

Source: The Hindu April 06, 2020 18:33 UTC