Domestic cats and dogs may have to be vaccinated in the future against Covid-19 to protect people

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This is a quick note but one worth making nonetheless. I think I can predict that in the long term, perhaps in about 18 months to 2 years time, governments in various countries, perhaps predominantly in the West, will be thinking about vaccinating companion animals as a second phase protective measure against Covid-19.  This is because there is a concern amongst some scientists that animals may create a reservoir for mutant variants of the Covid-19 virus. As the virus is zoonotic it can theoretically and actually be transmitted from animals to people and this must apply also to companion animals. Danish mink farmer with white mink due to be euthanised. Photo per credit Perhaps because of the general panicked nature of governmental responses to the coronavirus pandemic, not enough work has been done on this aspect of the spread of the disease. In addition nobody wants to alarm anybody which may lead to companion animal abuse. In fact, in China, at the outset of the pandemic, there were
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Meet Gabriel the Cuddly Cheetah



You might love this but I am not sure about it.  I am not sure that I like this sort of thing.  Obviously Gabriel, the cheetah, has been raised by people all his life and you can tell he is still quite young because he has long hair from the nape of his neck to his shoulders.

The video was made at Volunteering at Cheetah Experience in South Africa where the man in the video, Gary Getz befriended this teenage cheetah Gabriel.  Gary says that Gabriel loves giving affection more than receiving it.

I think when Gary says that it hurts at the beginning of the video he is referring to Gabriel's tongue as he is being licked. As you know a cat's tongue is quite rough with hard keratin spikes on it.   Cheetah's seem to have many domestic cat traits and are quite friendly relative to some other wild cat species.

Comments

Unknown said…
That poor guy seemed to be in some pain.
A beautiful cat. The difference between cheetahs and cougars are a little confusing to me though.
Cheetahs remind me a liitle of hyenas too. I'm not sure if hyenas are cat or dog really, but they seem very mean.
22 June 2014 at 13:08
Unknown said…
Yea its rather sad. Amazing to see how affectionate and lovely that Cheetah as. I just love Cheetahs.
23 June 2014 at 03:13
Michael Broad said…
Hyenas are very strong dog-like creatures that actually compete with lions as predators although the lion wins unless there is more than one hyena. The cheetah is similar in character to the cougar - domestic cat traits like the meow etc. and potentially friendly to humans. They can make pets. The cheetah was used for hunting with humans and still is. The cougar is often seen as a pet in America. Nice character.

The hyena probably beats a cheetah in a straight fight but the cheetah would steer clear.
23 June 2014 at 08:05
katee sackhoff nude said…
I am trying to explain people's obsession with gossip about celebrities such as actors, singers, and politicians. I think high-status people simply attract attention.
24 June 2014 at 00:22
Michael Broad said…
People make a career out of being talked about and photographed. People a still are still rather small minded and they like the superficial things of life which is why the big issues are not dealt with and the planet is going down the plug hole.
24 June 2014 at 05:17
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