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An endangered tiger was shot and killed in its zoo enclosure after biting a cleaner who had entered an 'unauthorized area' next to its cage. Deputies arrived at Naples Zoo in Florida to find the animal with the man's arm in its mouth and said they were 'forced to shoot' to free him. The maintenance worker was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries. Collier County Sheriff's Office confirmed the victim was a man with a third-party cleaning service contracted by the zoo. Reports suggest the Malayan tiger, named as eight-year-old Eko, had grabbed the man's arm after he reached...

Two hippopotamuses at a zoo in Belgium have tested positive for COVID-19. Antwerp Zoo announced Friday that the country’s national veterinary lab confirmed two hippos contracted the disease and that the zoo would be closed until further notice, The Associated Press reported. The infections appeared in a 14-year-old hippo named Imani and a 41-year-old hippo named Hermien.

Two hyenas at the Denver Zoo have tested positive for COVID-19 — but they’re laughing it off and are expected to make a full recovery. The cases involving Ngozi, 22, and Kibo, 23, at the 80-acre zoological garden are the first confirmed ones among the animals worldwide, according to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories. The spotted hyenas are experiencing mild symptoms — including slight lethargy, nasal discharge and some coughing — but their energy levels are normal, according to the zoo. “Hyenas are famously tough, resilient animals that are known to be highly tolerant to anthrax, rabies and distemper. They...

Zoo officials say they believe a vaccinated employees who cares for the gorillas passed on the virus while asymptomatic. The employee was wearing protective equipment such as a mask and gloves. The zoo says there is is no evidence that the gorillas can pass the virus back to humans and says visitors are too far away to be infected by gorillas. Zoo Atlanta says at least 13 western lowland gorillas have tested positive for COVID-19, including their oldest male gorilla in captivity - a 60-year-old named Ozzie Experts are now testing all 20 of Zoo Atlanta's gorillas, who live in...

Six lions and three tigers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C., are believed to have been infected with COVID-19 after returning “presumptive positive” tests this week. The zoo said in a Friday press release that a group of African lions, along with a Sumatran tiger and two Amur tigers, were positive for COVID-19 in initial tests based on fecal samples, with final results expected in the next few days. The zoo said that it conducted the tests after animal keepers last weekend “observed decreased appetites, coughing, sneezing and lethargy in several lions and tigers.”

When you deny involvement when there is no crime, you sound suspect. Things have become completely unhinged in the nation’s capital, so why not add to the mayhem? For a few days now, it has been a story of mild interest in the area that five zebras have escaped from a compound where they had been kept. They have reportedly splintered to evade capture, with one trio running off and the remaining duo taking a different escape plan. It’s the kind of nonsensical story that is basically welcomed, what with the world in complete disarray from the border, to the...

A Belgian zoo banned a local woman from visiting the park's chimpanzee exhibit due to her "affair" with one of the primates. A chimpanzee named Chita arrived at the Antwerp Zoo 30 years ago. Over the past four years, Adie Timmermans has visited the primate every week, developing a close bond with the animal. "I love that animal, and he loves me. I haven't got anything else. Why do they want to take that away," Timmermans said, per Newsweek. "We're having an affair, I'll just say." According to the outlet, the "affair" Timmermans mentioned involved the primate and woman waving...

A Belgian woman was barred from visiting a chimp at Antwerp Zoo after keepers determined that the two were spending far too much time together. The woman claimed she had a “affair” with the animal. The bizarre ‘love story’ made the headlines across Belgian media on Friday, after Antwerp Zoo slapped a restraining order of sorts on Adie Timmermans, a long-standing visitor. Over the past four years, Timmermans paid weekly visits to the zoo, seeking contact with one particular animal – a 38-year-old chimpanzee called Chita. The two then interacted through the enclosure’s glass, waving and blowing kisses at each...

Shocking footage of a violent fight between families touring a Chinese zoo has been shared online. The trivial argument between two visitors on Sunday (local time) led to an all-out brawl involving at least six people, including a woman holding a young boy, Beijing Wildlife Park said in a statement. Video of the incident, which occurred in the gorilla area, has gone viral after being posted to social media site Weibo. Footage of the violent brawl at a Chinese zoo showing a woman holding a child pulling another woman's hair. Video footage of the incident, which occurred in the gorilla...

One of the greatest questions of our time, something truly unanswerable and impossible to imagine the consequences of, is: “what could possibly go wrong if I stick my hand into a big cat enclosure and taunt a jaguar?”. A man from Florida took it upon himself to decipher the riddle, and reportedly stuck his hand into the jaguar enclosure in Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, Florida on August 3. The big cat responded as most big cats would when confronted with an uninvited stranger in its territory and clawed his arm, leaving behind a trail of blood and a wounded man,...

A Nebraska zoo is recommending that nearly 200 campers and staff members get rabies shots after they were potentially exposed to a rabid bat earlier this month. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium said that one of the 186 people participating in an overnight campout event at the facility on July 4 woke up to a wild bat flying around her head, according to The Associated Press. While an emergency medical official at the zoo said there were no bites or scratches found on the camper, the zoo located seven wild bats in the aquarium, one of which tested positive...

The Oakland Zoo in California started this week with bears, mountain lions, tigers and ferrets, the first of about 100 animals that are set to receive an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus over the summer. Zoetis, a veterinary pharmaceutical company, is donating 11,000 doses of the vaccine to about 70 zoos as well as sanctuaries, universities and other animal conservation sites in 27 U.S. states, and the Oakland Zoo is one of the first to benefit. The vaccine is solely for animals, goes through a different approval process than for people, and cannot be used to protect humans. “It means...

California's Oakland Zoo has vaccinated some of its larger animals against COVID-19, using a new experimental vaccine specifically formulated for animals.

The Oakland Zoo has begun a vaccination program to inoculate their highest risk animals from COVID-19 with an experimental vaccine that has been authorized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Oakland Zoo received their first shipment of the experimental vaccine developed by veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis and began to give doses to their tigers, black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions and ferrets, who were the first animals to receive the vaccine, according to a statement from the Oakland Zoo. They next plan to give doses to their primates, including chimpanzees, as well as fruit bats and pigs.

Eight Asiatic lions at an Indian zoo have contracted the coronavirus, the government said on Tuesday, adding that there was no evidence that animals could transmit the disease to humans. Zoo authorities in the southern city of Hyderabad shared samples with a government research laboratory on March 24 after the lions showed signs of respiratory distress.

A Milwaukee man tried to break into the elephant enclosure at a local zoo to “impress his daughter,” authorities said. Armond Bullocks allegedly climbed over a locked fenced area in the outdoor exhibit at the Milwaukee County Zoo, around closing time on Wednesday, local outlets reported. He then began to scale a second fence — but was stopped by park workers before reaching the zoo’s two African elephants, officials said.

A handout photo: Visitors to a zoo in Sichuan province, China, were stunned to find a dog in a harness waiting to greet them on the other side of the lion enclosure. Visitors to a zoo in southwestern China were left shocked and confused when they saw a golden retriever in a cage intended to accommodate an African lion. In a video clip that circulated widely on social media this week, a man only identified by his surname Tang, took his child to visit Yuanjiashan Zoo in Xichang, Sichuan, on Saturday but was startled More from AsiaOne “At first, we...

To make up for lack of interaction under Covid-19 restrictions, apes at zoos 150km apart can now watch each others’ daily lives on big screens Humans might be tiring of video calls, Zoom birthdays and streamed performances, but the chimps at two Czech zoos are just starting to enjoy their new live online link-up. To make up for the lack of interaction with visitors since the attractions closed in December under Covid-19 restrictions, the chimpanzees at Safari Park Dvur Kralove and the troop at a zoo 150km away in in Brno, can now watch one another’s daily lives on giant...

Staff tried to separate animalsA female jaguar was killed by a male jaguar in a holding complex at the zoo, according to a news release Tuesday from the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. The zoo said the 21-year-old female jaguar Zenta was killed late Saturday. It said the incident occurred when the 12-year-old male jaguar Harry was brought in to a holding complex to be examined after he ingested “pieces of an enrichment item,” News 6 partner News4Jax reported. Zookeepers, the news release said, tried to separate the animals using several tactics through the mesh, but were unsuccessful. The animal health...

It's not just humans who have been impacted by the global coronavirus pandemic. Pet cats have tested positive, as has a tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York. On Monday, the San Diego Zoo announced that members of its gorilla troop have COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. The gorillas reside at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, a 1,800-acre facility that houses rhinos, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes and the endangered gorillas.