One of first big cats to test positive for COVID now at Washington zoo, officials say

One of the world’s first big cats to test positive for COVID-19 is the newest tiger at Woodland Park Zoo, The Seattle Times reported.

Azul, a 5-year-old Malayan Tiger from the Bronx Zoo, along with her sister, Nadia, two Amur tigers and three African lions, tested positive for COVID-19 after developing a dry cough, according to an April 22 news release from the Wildlife Conservation Society. Another tiger that tested positive never developed a cough, according to the zoo.

Azul and the eight other big cats were among the world’s first animals to test positive for coronavirus, the Times reported. They all recovered, according to the newspaper.

Woodland Park Zoo announced Azul’s arrival in Seattle on Tuesday. She spent 30 days in quarantine with the zoo’s veterinary team, according to the release.

Now, she’s ready to roam the Banyan Wilds Habitat, the release says. While she’s solo at the moment, the zoo plans “to introduce Azul to Bumi (a 10-year-old male tiger) sometime in the future in the hopes that the two will eventually have cubs,” according to the release.

The zoo last had cubs in 2006, the release says.

Azul was born and hand raised at the Bronx Zoo, according to the release. Zoo officials took over caring for her in the days after her birth “because her mother was not giving her proper care,” the release says.

“That kind of upbringing means that Azul has an especially calm and mellow nature — she’s taken very well to her animal keepers here in her new home!” according to the release.

Bumi and Azul were paired based on a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Malayan Tiger Species Survival Plan, a cooperative conservation program, the release says. The program works to “ensure a healthy, self-sustaining population of tigers,” according to the release.

“There are only about 200 Malayan tigers left in the wild, which is why cubs are especially important to the survival of this species,” the release says.

Woodland Park Zoo cares for the largest number of live animals in Washington, with 900 representing more than 250 different species, according to the zoo. It works to “save animals and their habitats in the wild through more than 35 wildlife conservation projects in the Pacific Northwest and around the world,” the zoo says.

This story was originally published January 22, 2021 at 3:33 PM with the headline "One of first big cats to test positive for COVID now at Washington zoo, officials say."