It is widely accepted that COVID-19 virus spread from wildlife to humans, and studies are now being done on the risks to land-based animals through cross-infection from humans, (The Veterinarian, October 2020). The results of a study published recently in Science of the Total Environment have found marine mammals may […]
Vet ethics: Pointing the finger at pandemic-causing behaviour
A recent article in Neuroepidemiology, called “What the COVID-19 crisis is telling humanity,” argues that the way we treat animals puts us at risk of further disasters similar to the current pandemic. The authors, David Wiebers and Valery Feigin, are neuroscientists. Their call for a change in our treatment of […]
COVID-19 also a risk for wildlife
An international study has warned a wide range of mammals, including threatened species, are at risk of human-animal transmission of COVID-19, and have urged people to take sanitary precautions when in direct or indirect contact with wild or feral mammal species. Domestic cats, American mink, Egyptian fruit bats and North […]
Vet Ethics: Taking protection against infection … from animals
Knowledge of the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on animals continues to emerge, albeit slowly. We already knew that the virus probably originated from bats, and may have passed on through an intermediary animal, perhaps the pangolin. We now also now that SARS-CoV-2 can infect pet cats and dogs and cause illness, […]
Eagle Post: Tom Donnelly reports from the US
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York issued a sweeping executive order that essentially put the state on a pandemic lockdown beginning Sunday, March 22. One week later, my friend Cyndi, an exotics pet specialist at the Animal Medical Center in New York, said that she and all other part-time veterinarians […]