Researchers track spread of COVID-19 in wild animals
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VIDEO COURTESY AP
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
The sun rises over icy Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Minn., on March 3.3/14
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The sun begins to set over Hollow Rock on frozen Lake Superior in Grand Portage, Minn. on March 3.4/14
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Todd Kautz, a post-doctoral researcher from the State University of New York, lies on his belly to take biological samples from a hibernating bear in its den as a colleague holds his feet in Grand Portage, Minn. on March 2. This includes testing the young black bear for the coronavirus.5/14
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A bear hibernates in a den in Grand Portage, Minn. on March 2. Biologists from the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are tracking the animals and taking biological samples, including a COVID-19 swab, from bears and other mammals for research. In order to access the bear dens, which they find through GPS collars on the bears, researchers need to sometimes dig down through many feet of snow and then stick the upper half of their bodies into the dens with the hibernating bear inside to sedate the animals further so that the bears don't wake up while they are taking the biological samples.6/14
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The sun sets behind an abandoned structure on frozen Lake Superior off of Highway 61 between Grand Marais and Grand Portage, Minn. on March 3.7/14
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Frank Manthey follows E.J. Isaac and Roger Deschampe Jr. into the Grand Portage, Minn. woods on March 2, to check traps they set to catch deer for scientific research for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. One of the samples they take from the deer is a COVID-19 swab.8/14
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E.J. Isaac, fish and wildlife biologist for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, stands over an empty deer trap in Grand Portage, Minn. on March 1. He and his team are catching deer in order to take biological samples to send to scientists for research. One of the samples he takes is testing for COVID-19 in the animals.9/14
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E.J. Isaac, Roger Deschampe Jr., and Frank Manthey, who work in resource management for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, take biological samples from a deer they caught in a Clover trap on March 2, in Grand Portage, Minn.. These samples, including a COVID-19 test on the animal, will be sent to scientists for research.10/14
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A young buck peeks out from under a blanket while in a Clover deer trap. A wildlife team is testing the animal for the coronavirus and taking other biological samples in Grand Portage, Minn. on March 2. The COVID-19 virus has been confirmed in wildlife in at least 24 U.S. states, including Minnesota. Recently, an early Canadian study showed someone in nearby Ontario likely contracted a highly mutated strain from a deer.11/14
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A wildlife team covers a young buck's head with a cloth to help calm it before testing the deer for the coronavirus and taking other biological samples in Grand Portage, Minn. on Wednesday, March 2. Scientists are concerned that the COVID-19 virus could evolve within animal populations – potentially spawning dangerous viral mutants that could jump back to people, spread among us and reignite what for now seems like a waning crisis.12/14
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E.J. Isaac, fish and wildlife biologist for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, swabs a young buck for the coronavirus in Grand Portage, Minn. on March 2. Isaac expects animal COVID-19 infections to increase with the start of spring, as bears wake from hibernation and deer and wolves roam to different regions.13/14
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E.J. Isaac, fish and wildlife biologist for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, places a swab into a vial after testing a young buck for the coronavirus in Grand Portage, Minn. on March 2. “If we consider that there are many species and they’re all intermingling to some extent, their patterns and their movements can exponentially increase the amount of transmission that could occur,” Isaac says.14/14
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A helicopter lifts off in Grand Portage, Minn., carrying Seth Moore, director of biology and environment for the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and a team from the wildlife capture company Heliwild. The team searches for deer and moose from the air as part of an effort to test wildlife for the coronavirus and take other biological samples. Tuesday, March 1.
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