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COVID-hit Thor is sick again; zoo officials in battle to save the Lion King
Thor and Shina
Thor the Lion, who the authorities said last week was on the path to recovery after he tested COVID-19 positive, is now suffering a secondary infection.
A Dehiwala Zoo official told the Sunday Times the lion was experiencing breathing difficulties once again and the zoo’s vets were taking every measure to help him breathe with ease. A caretaker said Thor was conscious while he was being treated by the zoo’s veterinary surgeons who believed there could be complication if the animal continued to have respiratory problems.
“Thor has lost weight and is looking sickly. But he is a fighter. He is being subjected to chest x-rays, injected with vitamins and antibiotics, subjected to steaming and given oxygen to ease his breathing,” said the caretaker, who did not want to be named.
He said the 11 year old elderly lion had become easily irritated as he was regularly being given antibiotic injections after he was coaxed into the crusher cage.
The lifespan of a male lion is 10-15 years in the wild but it lives longer in captivity.
Meanwhile, the Zoo authorities also confirmed that Thor’s mate lioness Shina too tested positive for COVID 19. However, she remains asymptomatic.
The Zoo’s Director General, Ishini Wickremesinghe, said Thor was well taken care of by the Zoo staf.
She said the zoo authorities contacted veterinary surgeons in Indian zoos where lions were cured after they were afflicted with COVID-19 and obtained their advice, as this was the first time that an animal had been afflicted with the covid virus in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, gene samples obtained from Thor were being analysed by Peradeniya University’s Molecular Biologist Dr. W.A. Saturasinghe.
“There is no confirmation whether the virus had come from handlers or other sources. Until the genes are specifically analysed one cannot conclude how the lion contracted the virus,” he said.
He also said the university’s Veterinary Medicine Faculty was testing the samples obtained from the zoo’s monkeys as part of a research to find out the possibility of the virus reaching the monkey population in the country.
(Additional reporting by L.B Senaratne)