Researchers track the spread of COVID-19 in wild animals

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  The sun rises over icy Lake Superior in Grand Marais, Minnesota on March 3.

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  The sun begins to set over Hollow Rock on frozen Lake Superior in Grand Portage, Minnesota on March 3.

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  State University of New York postdoctoral researcher Todd Kautz lies on his stomach to take biological samples from a hibernating bear in its den as a colleague holds his feet in Grand Portage, Minnesota March 2. This includes testing the young black bear for the coronavirus.

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  A bear hibernates in a den in Grand Portage, Minnesota 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 bear dens, which they find using GPS bear collars, researchers sometimes have to dig through several feet of snow, then stick the upper half of their body into the dens with the bear in hibernation indoors to calm animals. moreover so that the bears do not wake up while they take the biological samples.

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  The sun sets behind an abandoned structure on frozen Lake Superior near Highway 61 between Grand Marais and Grand Portage, Minnesota on March 3.

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  Frank Manthey follows EJ Isaac and Roger Deschampe Jr. into the woods of Grand Portage, Minnesota on March 2 to check out the traps they set to catch deer for scientific research for the Grand Portage strip of the lake Superior Chippewa. One of the samples they take from the deer is a COVID-19 swab.

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  EJ Isaac, fish and wildlife biologist for the Grand Portage Lake Superior Chippewa Band, stands over an empty deer trap in Grand Portage, Minn., March 1. He and his team catch deer in order to collect biological samples to send to scientists for research. One of the samples he takes tests animals for COVID-19.

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  EJ 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 captured in a Clover trap March 2, in Grand Portage, Minnesota. These samples, including an animal COVID-19 test, will be sent to scientists for research.

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  A young buck emerges from under a blanket while in a Clover deer trap. A wildlife team tests the animal for the coronavirus and collects other biological samples in Grand Portage, Minnesota on March 2. The COVID-19 virus has been confirmed in wildlife from at least 24 US states, including Minnesota. Recently, a first Canadian study showed that a person from neighboring Ontario had probably contracted a highly mutated strain from a deer.

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  A wildlife team covers a young buck’s head with a cloth to help calm him down before testing the deer for coronavirus and collecting other biological samples in Grand Portage, Minnesota, Wednesday, March 2. Scientists fear that the COVID-19 virus could evolve within animal populations – potentially spawning dangerous viral mutants that could return to humans, spread among us and rekindle what for now appears to be a waning crisis.

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  EJ Isaac, fish and wildlife biologist for the Grand Portage Lake Superior Chippewa Band, collects a young male for coronavirus in Grand Portage, Minnesota, March 2. Isaac expects animal COVID-19 infections to increase with the onset of spring, as bears wake up from hibernation and deer and wolves roam different areas.

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  EJ Isaac, fish and wildlife biologist for the Grand Portage Lake Superior Chippewa Band, places a swab in a vial after testing a young male for coronavirus in Grand Portage, Minnesota on March 2. “If we consider that there are many species and they all mix to some degree, their patterns and movements can exponentially increase the amount of transmission that could occur,” Isaac explains.

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  A helicopter takes 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 in the air as part of an effort to test wildlife for coronavirus and collect other biological samples. Tuesday, March 1.

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