Involve veterinarians in fight against COVID-19: PIL in HC

A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking directions to the Centre to involve veterinarians also in the fight to prevent spread of COVID-19 between humans and animals, claiming that a tiger in the Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh had allegedly died due to coronavirus.

The forest officials and the government had denied that the tiger was infected with COVID-19 and had claimed that it died as it had a football sized hairball inside it and as a result could not eat.

The petition, by animal rights activist Sangeeta Dogra, has claimed that the forest officials have "incorrectly diagnosed" the cause of death of the tiger as it was based on "speculation" and not on examination by a virologist or an epidemiologist.

The plea has contended that since the feline died near a water body which is frequented by other animals in the reserve, the forest officials ought to have tested it for presence of any virus as recently in Chennai viral RNA samples were allegedly found in sewage samples collected from some water treatment plants.

The petition has further contended that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had on April 23 released a report stating that COVID-19 virus has been detected in sewage systems.

WHO has also cautioned that since viral particles have been found in sewage, as a precautionary measure wastewater should be well managed, the petition has claimed.