Posted on 01/08/2021 10:54:33 AM PST by SJackson
While humans are still awaiting a jab with a coronavirus vaccine, endangered black-footed ferrets in Colorado have already gotten their shots.
One hundred and twenty of the ferrets (Mustela nigripes) — once thought completely extinct — have been vaccinated with an experimental veterinary COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Associated Press.
Ferrets are highly susceptible to dying from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Minks, a close cousin of ferrets, have already been found to contract coronavirus in fur farms and, alarmingly, in the wild. This is dangerous because any time the virus transmits between humans and animals, it has more opportunities to develop mutations.
"For highly contagious respiratory viruses, it's really important to be mindful of the animal reservoir," Corey Casper, a vaccinologist and chief executive of the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle, told Colorado Public Radio (CPR). "If the virus returns to the animal host and mutates, or changes, in such a way that it could be reintroduced to humans, then the humans would no longer have that immunity. That makes me very concerned."
Black-footed ferrets are native to grasslands on the northern Great Plains. They were once believed to be extinct, but a few individuals were rediscovered in Wyoming in 1981, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Thanks to a captive breeding and release program, an estimated 370 black-footed ferrets exist in the wild.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Well, it's up to the Governor I guess. If they're getting an experimental vaccine probably can't be used on humans anyway.
Finally! Some animal trials for the vaccine!
(Hope they don’t wipe out this cohort!)
phew! cuz I’m on my way to a ferret festival
Did Charlies stalker Rose approve this?/s
I, for one, welcome our new ferret overlords
A ferret is more worthy than a Democrat.
A big missed headline opportunity: “Ferrets Ferret Out Vaccine”
Miss mine v much.
Oh, I thought this was another story about Congress members getting the vaccine.
Black Ferrets Matter
Are you serious?
One Saturday I was on the side of my building washing my car, a black lady walked by from the adjacent entrance saying she had just been attacked by a weasel when she was on the porch step of her building........I quietly laughed to myself kinda figuring what the animal was.
Sure enough, about 15 minutes later a ferret came around the corner of the building in front of my car. So I walked up to the critter, picked it up and took it up to my apartment. I had been thinking about getting a ferret for a pet so I decided to keep it and put it in my animal carrier and let it roam the apartment.......Not much roaming, much sleeping.
Anyway I couldn't deal with its smell even tho I shampooed it so I checked the internet for ferret rescue groups that had sprung up around Michigan and found a veterinarian office about a mile from my employer and Monday morning I took the little guy over to them.
Apparently the fun of owning a ferret wears off quite quickly when the new owners do not approve of their musky odor.
FWIW, I kinda knew who the little guy belonged to. It was a pain in the ass bandana gangsta living on the second floor in the next building so rather than return it to him, I took it to the rescue vet who would likely find it a better home.......
With that being said, did the ferret escape on its own or did the punk just throw it away.........I think I made the right choice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdRXuyBOyow
“Finally! Some animal trials for the vaccine!
(Hope they don’t wipe out this cohort!)”
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I suspect your post is meant as sarcasm but, for those who might not know, the Moderna vaccine was first tested on Rhesus macaques (which are a monkey species) before the human trials. The vaccine worked on those non-human primates. I’m pretty sure this is standard methodology.
I hope they were sure there’s be no adverse reaction for the ferrets.
Otherwise, they just sealed their doom.
LOL No :)
Ol’ Ferret Face.
Ping to *Ferret*....a poster on FR eons ago.
I believe he got under everyone’s skin and got banonated.
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