Chennai: All the animals housed in the Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP) at suburban Vandalur, which was popularly called as Vandalur Zoo, have tested negative for SARS Cov-2.
A release from the AAZP here said after about 70 of the zoo staff and workers tested positive for Covid-19 on January 13, the zoo authorities lifted samples from all the animals and they have tested negative for the virus.
Samples were collected from 21 fields, including 11 lions, four leopards and six tigers and sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal.
The results for all the samples showed negative for SARS CoV-2, the release said. In a bid to curb the virus spread, the Zoo was shut from 17 January till the end of this month.
A few days back, an aged leopard died at the AAZP. The 18-year-old leopard, Jaya, died of natural causes and old age,Zoo officials said.
It died inside a squeeze cage on January 17 when veterinarians were attempting to collect nasal swab samples for Covid-19 test.