Pets are irresponsible for COVID-19
Aijun Sun, Youbao Zhao, Guoqing Zhuang*, Gaiping
Zhang*
Running title: Pets are innocent
College of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural
University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450002, China.
*Corresponding author.
College of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural
University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450002, PR China
Email:
zhuangguoqing@henau.edu.cn;
zhanggaiping2003@163.com
In late January 2020, people in China had to stay at home with their
pets to prevent further spread of a novel coronavirus disease
(COVID-19), which is caused by the severe acute respiratory
syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
(http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/yqfkdt/202001/12ec9062d5d041f38e210e8b69b6d7ef.shtml).
Unfortunately, with the epidemic getting worse and the quarantine
getting more restricted, some people randomly abandoned their pets due
to the growing panic and anxiety induced by the misleading information
about COVID-19
(http://www.myzaker.com/article/5e636add1bc8e04515000116/). We appeal
for the safekeeping of the pets and taking care of them in the COVID-19
pandemic, because they are innocent and not to be blamed for any role in
spreading the disease among humans.
Given the confusion made by misleading information, we try to respond to
common thoughts regarding SARS-CoV-2 and pets. First, pet owners are
concerned that even when taken care of their pets can be easily infected
with SARS-CoV-2. In fact, pets are safe while they live with their
owners under full protection and cleaning measurements. Up to date, only
dogs and cats that had close contact with infected or suspected infected
humans tested positive for SARS-CoV-2; in such cases, the recommended
viral diagnosis of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) is
necessary
(https://www.oie.int/en/scientific-expertise/specific-information-and-recommendations/questions-and-answers-on-2019novel-coronavirus/).
Second, pet owners are not only worried about the active infection of
their pets, but also that they can be intermediate hosts of SARS-CoV-2.
So far only a few wild species as potential intermediate hosts of
SARS-CoV-2 have been reported, such as Malayan pangolin (Lam et al.,
2020), and snakes (Ji, Wang, Zhao, Zai, & Li, 2020). Recent serological
surveys showed that the possibility of dogs and cats to be intermediate
hosts is very low (Deng et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2020, a preprint).
Furthermore, some pet owners are afraid that they might catch SARS-CoV-2
from their pets. Although the origin of SARS-CoV-2 has not yet been
identified, it is clear that the major route of transmission of COVID-19
is human-to-human (Chan et al., 2020). An animal-to-human route of
transmission has not been evidently reported as stated by the World
Health Organization (WHO); thus, pets do not play a significant
epidemiological role in the COVID-19 spread
(https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses).
Pets abandonment causes severe public health concerns in the COVID-19
pandemic. For instance, the government needs to allocate more physical,
material and financial resources to take care of the increasing number
of stray animals. This will put extra pressure on the integral strategy
of COVID-19 prevention and control. Meanwhile, attacks by aggressive
stray animals on other animals and humans will represent another public
health threat.
With the rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide, we appeal again for strict
pet abandonment bans by the governments in all countries. The health and
welfare of pets should be guaranteed by animal welfare and protection
organizations. Information regarding COVID-19 should be critically
reviewed and correctly reported to eliminate improper behaviors towards
pets, which may result from misleading information spread by mass media.
Last but not least, public education should include the responsibility
towards pets, not just today, but every day.