Mexican animal shelter names newborn Bengal tiger cub COVID after the deadly global disease that has killed more than 23,700 people
- Bio-Zoo announced the birth of Covid, a cub born to two tigers that were rescued by the shelter that is located in Veracruz, Mexico
- The cub was named after COVID-19, the virus that has killed more than 23,700 people in the world
- The small zoo in the city of Cordoba specializes in rescuing animals from circuses and exotic private collections
- The zoo’s owner said: ‘I think the birth, in spite of the situation, will help us and gives us hope to carry on’
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A private zoo in southeastern Mexico have named a new Bengal tiger cub Covid after the deadly coronavirus epidemic that has killed tens of thousands around the world.
The rare birth of a baby tiger has brought a glimmer of hope to the zoo, even as normal life seizes up in the country to contain the deadly pandemic that inspired his name.
Named by the family that owns the zoo, tiger Covid was born on March 14 in a small zoo in the city of Cordoba that specializes in rescuing animals from circuses and exotic private collections.
The coronavirus causes the respiratory disease COVID-19, which is often used synonymously with the virus.
The daughter of the owner of a Mexican animal shelter chose Covid as the name of a Bengal cub
Covid (pictured) was born March 14 to an eight-year-old tigress who had been nursed back to health
The tiger’s birth came as a surprise to everyone, said Kitzia Rodriguez, daughter of the zoo owner and a vet there.
‘We didn’t know he was on the way,’ Rodriguez told Reuters.
‘He’s going to have a big impact because the situation right now is difficult for everyone, even for us,’ she said.
‘But I think the birth, in spite of the situation, will help us and gives us hope to carry on, so we can have visitors. Covid was a gift.’
Covid was born at a Bio-Zoo, an animal shelter that specializes in saving wild animals from circuses and homes
The owner of the Veracruz, Mexico, zoo said Covid’s birth represented a major ‘achievement’ for the reproduction of the animals that are sheltered
Covid was named after the coronavirus. He was born March 14 at a shelter for wild animals in Veracruz, Mexico
The BioZoo in the state of Veracruz is still operating even as public life slowly winds down in Mexico to curb the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed over 22,000 people worldwide.
Covid was born to an 8-year-old tigress that had been in a circus and was nursed back to health after needing an operation for a hip fracture, said zoo owner Gonzalo Rodriguez.
The cub’s father, age 6, joined the shelter after hurting his mouth by biting into a vase at the private home where he was kept, said Rodriguez, who has run the zoo for over two decades.
Rodríguez told local newspaper El Portal Noticias that the birth of the tiger represented a major ‘achievement’ for the reproduction of the animals that are sheltered at his zoo.
The coronavirus has killed more than 23,700 people and infected over 526,000 people around the world. It has been blamed for six deaths in Mexico, which has 475 confirmed cases.