PRESS RELEASES

YOUR TORONTO ZOO ANIMAL VACCINE UPDATE

TORONTO, ON, Tuesday, March 8, 2022: Your Toronto Zoo can confirm at least one of our Canadian zoo counterparts have received their Covid vaccines for animals, developed and donated by Zoetis, and have begun the process of vaccinating their animals. For more information, please contact [email protected] at Assiniboine Park Zoo. Toronto Zoo is eagerly awaiting the arrival of our vaccines, and we will continue to send updates as we move forward in this process.

 

Your Toronto Zoo will be receiving 320 doses, with two doses required per animal given about two - three weeks apart. We have identified 146 animals that will be receiving the vaccine, based on the Covid sensitivity list that has been developed through on-going research and reports of positive cases in other zoos. Our amazing Wildlife Care team has worked on training the animals to voluntarily participate in their healthcare, including voluntarily presenting an area of the body to receive the vaccine through positive reinforcement. Once the animals have received their vaccines, the Wildlife Care staff will monitor them closely, as they would after any other vaccination. The vaccines will be administered by our incredible veterinary team.

 

The health and safety of our animals is our top priority, and we will continue to do everything we can to provide them with the highest level of medical care throughout their entire lives. This includes vaccinating them when they are first born as a preventive measure and also providing them with new vaccines to fight COVID-19 . While your Toronto Zoo is grateful we have had no positive cases of COVID-19 in any of our animals, it has proven to be deadly in some animals in other zoos in the United States.

 

Zoetis shared its initial safety and serology data for its new vaccine in a scientific poster at the World One Health Congress in the Fall of 2020. To view the poster, click here. This is the only published study to date.

 

As part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 103.3 experimental use permit, the USDA requests use and safety data be reported back to them. Furthermore, Zoetis’ agreement with each zoo/organization requires them to provide a monthly update on usage and safety observations. In addition, any significant adverse events must be reported immediately to Zoetis on a form provided so that they may report to both the USDA and the CCVB within three days. Zoetis has received no significant animal adverse event reports from zoo veterinarians following the administration of the COVID vaccine for animals.