India: 28 elephants undergo COVID-19 test in Tamil Nadu's Mudumalai reserve

Chennai (Tamil Nadu): Amid COVID-19 fear in animals, a total of 28 elephants underwent the COVID-19 test on Tuesday at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve in Chennai.

The samples were sent to Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh and reports are expected to come within a few days.

This came after a lioness died of COVID-19, and a few other lions tested positive for the virus at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park.

Following this, State Forest Minister Ramachandran ordered the COVID-19 test for all the elephants in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

"In this special camp trunk wash samples as well as rectal swab samples were collected from all the 28 elephants and sent to Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh. The test was conducted for all the 28 elephants aged from 2 to 60 years and the results are expected in a couple of days," said Dhyanandhan, Forest Ranger, Theppakkad Elephant Camp.

Last month, two lionesses had tested positive for COVID-19 at Etawah Safari Park in Uttar Pradesh, and eight Asiatic lions at the Nehru Zoological Park (NZP) Hyderabad had tested positive for the virus on May 4.