Research overview: SARS-CoV-2 spillback to captive big cats in zoos worldwide

Following the Bronx Zoo tigers, SARS-CoV-2 infections were confirmed in big cats at zoos and sanctuaries across multiple countries, including additional tigers, lions, snow leopards, pumas and others. This overview synthesizes the pattern of human-to-cat spillback, typically from infected keepers, the range of clinical outcomes from mild respiratory signs to occasional deaths, and the diagnostic and genomic methods used to confirm cases. It examines how facilities adapted biosecurity, personal protective equipment and even vaccination of captive carnivores. The synthesis frames captive big cats as sentinels of human viral circulation and as a population warranting protection from a human pathogen. It aims to convey how a global pandemic reached charismatic zoo felids and reshaped husbandry practices for managed wild cats.