SPREAD TO APES Adorable baby orangutan may have died of coronavirus at zoo, PETA claims… but keepers insist it’s impossible
A BABY orangutan may have died from coronavirus at a zoo in Germany, PETA has claimed. The campaign group is demanding an investigation into the death of nine-month-old Rima - but zookeepers have furiously rubbished the claims.
Leipzig Zoo announced the death of the baby orangutan last week, but were unable to give a cause of death.
PETA, who campaign against the mistreatment of animals, have since said it’s “thoroughly likely” that monkeys can catch coronavirus, and said there should be an investigation into Rima’s case.
In a statement, PETA specialist Yvonne Würz said: “The danger of apes being infected with SARS-CoV-2 is thoroughly likely.”
She added “As the closest relatives of humans, they are vulnerable to pathogens which cause respiratory illnesses in humans.”
Park officials, however, have maintained that Rima was severly ill before she died in April.
Zookeeper Daniel Geißler told German broadcaster MDR last week: “She was so ill that she passed away overnight.”
Mr Geißler added that a vet had been visiting Rima every day to try and save her life.
The young orangutan’s mother, called Pini, allegedly kept her body for several days after she died.
|