A four-year-old tiger named Nadia at the Bronx Zoo has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The zoo in New York City, says, says the test result was confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa becoming the first known case of an animal infected with COVID-19 in the US.
Nadia is among six other big cats thought to have been infected by an asymptomatic zoo keeper reports the BBC.
The cats started showing symptoms, including a dry cough, late last month after exposure to the employee, who has not been identified.
“This is the first time that any of us know of anywhere in the world that a person infected the animal and the animal got sick,”
Paul Calle, the chief veterinarian at the zoo, told Reuters news agency on Sunday.
There have been isolated instances of pets testing positive for the coronavirus elsewhere in the world, but experts have stressed there is no evidence they can become sick or spread the disease.