Corona is also putting German zoos under stress.

This is not only due to the decline in visitor numbers and the resulting lower income.

The zoos must also protect the animals from contamination.

The Stuttgart Wilhelma is the second largest state zoo in Germany in terms of visitors and animal species.

The pandemic has changed everyday life in the animal houses and outdoor enclosures: "Our keepers wear masks themselves when preparing feed, we strictly keep the distance between visitors and animals so that we avoid infection," says Thomas Kölpin, Director of Wilhelma and a PhD in zoologist.

Rudiger Soldt

Political correspondent in Baden-Württemberg.

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PCR tests on animals are now part of everyday life for zookeepers and veterinarians: "If we give an animal to another zoo, we do the necessary health tests, and the corona test has been part of it since the beginning of the pandemic," says Kölpin.

This also happens when new animals are accepted.

A nasal swab is only possible on animals after anesthesia.

Tests are also carried out if an animal is seriously ill or has died.

Due to the recent infections in two female hippos at Antwerp Zoo and the findings of American scientists that around 40 percent of white-tailed deer in the state of Ohio are infected with the coronavirus, many zoo directors have become even more cautious. "We knew that many species of predators and all primates can be infected with corona." If animal species are infected that are to be found as cloven-hoofed animals near pigs and cattle, then it can be "sensationally dangerous". Infectiologists, epidemiologists and veterinarians fear a "tertiary reservoir".

There is some suspicion that the virus first spread from bats to humans in China. Later infected people infected cats, dogs and also mink. If the virus should now jump from animal species to animal species and circulate in an uncontrolled manner, a new - tertiary - difficult-to-control reservoir for new, potentially dangerous mutations would form. “As soon as the virus spreads to more groups of animals, the risk of reverse zoonoses increases. Then people become infected with a mutant that has already passed through a number of host animals, ”says the Stuttgart zoo director. At Wilhelma - the only state zoo in Germany - no corona test on animals has yet been positive.

White-tailed deer corona cases were investigated by scientists at Pennsylvania State University;

However, it is still unclear which way the deer were infected.

They could have been hunters, strollers, or hunting dogs.

The scientists diagnosed the animals with virus types that were circulating in the population in Ohio early last year.

It is worrying that such wild animal populations could create new mutants or preserve older ones that are no longer common among humans.

Because wild animals do not adhere to a lockdown, they can theoretically transfer their mutants to large populations of farm animals - for example pigs or cattle.

The death of two snow leopards in America and two lions after a corona infection caused a sensation for the zoologists.

Severe corona disease courses are similar to those in humans.

You can't help the sick animals with intensive care: “You can't keep lions in constant ventilation,” says Kölpin.

"There are no intensive care units for large animals."