No Covid vaccinations for pets because they aren't a priority

NEWS AND COMMENT: We, the public, know that lions, tigers and bears have been given Covid vaccinations. This tells us unequivocally that there is a Covid vaccine for animals, specifically zoo animals. This is because zookeepers who have been infected with Covid transmit the disease to captive animals at their zoo. This is important because the animals are valuable. They are an asset to the zoo and that asset needs to be protected with a vaccine.

RELATED: Tragedy: 3 snow leopards die of Covid

Free pet care clinic Seattle 2020. Ruth Fremson / The New York Times

However, despite the knowledge of an effective vaccination for animals, vaccines are unavailable for dogs and cats. This is simply because, on my understanding, that dogs and cats are de-prioritised.

The experts think that cats and dogs do not transmit Covid to their owners and other people living in their homes. One veterinarian, Dr. Elizabeth Lennon, working out of the University of Pennsylvania said that she is frequently asked when a vaccination will be made available for domestic cats and dogs.

The answer is that pets are simply not a priority according to experts. Dr. Lennon said that:

"To date, there hasn’t been any documented cases of dogs or cats spreading the virus to people."

And Dr. Will Sander, a veterinarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said that the risk of the disease spreading in pets is so low that any vaccine would not be worth giving.

RELATED: Can domestic cats transmit Covid?

This is a question of economics and finance and whether people can be bothered to vaccinate companion animals. At the moment the answer is that it is not worth vaccinating them.

My research does not specify absolutely that the vaccines given to zoo animals can be used on domestic animals. However, I can't see any reason why a vaccine used on a big cat like a tiger can't be used on a domestic cat. This is because they are exactly the same anatomically with some very minor differences excluding the size difference which is obvious. 😀.

But the point is that they are the same and they have the same physiology, so I would like someone to tell me why the vaccines made available to zoos in America can't also be made available to veterinarians. Is that such a big ask?

Even if the vaccine is de-prioritised for pets, it is hardly a great difficulty or burden to distribute it a little more widely to veterinarians.

Source: Seattle Times.

The truth about tiger and lion cub petting

Tiger cub petting is immoral and exploitative. Screenshot.

This a cool BCR video on cub petting. Tiger cub petting seems innocent and cute to the unknowing but the backstory is horrible and cruel. It is all about financial profit at the expense of animal welfare. The cubs are commodities to be exploited. The private zoos which run tiger and lion cub petting are immoral. They have to be to do what they do. Tigers and lions are exploited terribly all over the world. The rarer they become - and they are becoming rarer in the wild - the more they are exploited. Rareness is very exploitable in the human world. And cuteness is easy to monetize too. 

Note: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

What happens to the cubs when they are 12 weeks old? They are no longer commodities. They are a burden on the expenses of these exploitative businesses. They don't want to feed and care for tigers if they can't make money. Are they killed? Probably. The parts are possibly sold to China where there is a constant demand for tiger and lion body parts to eat. It is quite mad as they believe that eating bits of tiger anatomy improves them; their health and their sex. Superstitious humans rooted in the past at the expense of animal welfare and wildlife conservation.

The two past masters of tiger cub petting are Jo Exotic and Tim Stark. They know each other. Joe Exotic is currently in jail serving a 22-year prison sentence for conspiracy to murder Carole Baskin whose business made the video on this page ironically. Joe Exotic mercilessly exploited lion and tiger cubs on his huge estate, his private zoo which was the largest in America until it was disbanded after he was sent to prison.

Tim Stark was also featured in the hit Netflix documentary series called Tiger King. He was one of the big cat exploiters in America. He's lost his livelihood. As I recall he voluntarily gave up his animals. Ironically, too, Jo Exotic's animals were taken over by Carole Baskin, I guess under a court order.

CAROLE BASKINS CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT CAPTIVE BIG CATS

Tim Stark made millions with his baby tiger playtime sessions. National Geographic reports that many owners of cub-petting attractions in the United States are facing lawsuits or criminal charges. They say that court cases are challenging the legality of certain practices incorporated within these private zoos, such as tearing cubs from their mothers before they are weaned and allowing tourists to take selfies and bottle feed them.

The lawsuits cite a range of infractions such as illegally buying, selling and shipping endangered species nationwide, poor veterinary care, poor animal welfare, poor nutrition and unclean and unsafe housing et cetera.

The imprisonment of Jo Exotic and the end of his exploitative escapades has perhaps marked the beginning of the end of tiger and lion cub exploitation in the America.