The process of approvals for veterinary tests is not the same for getting approvals for human use. This means that veterinary labs can develop tests for use with animals, and start running them, with less hoops to jump through. https://twitter.com/sarahkendzior/status/1246933488382730244

That means it’s not that a human test, which are in shorter supply, was used in tigers, it means that a parallel process of developing a test for veterinary use that could be employed with big cats could be used.

Veterinary research labs are in gear to study COVID19 in animals, because we know it’s a zoonotic disease and studying patterns of transmission to other animals is crucial to containing and understanding it.

Every transmission to a different species presents a health hazard to all of us, human and non-human. And we want to prevent those transmissions, but if/when they occur, we have to be prepared to study them.