00:00Your backyard critters may have more to worry about than your pet cat.
00:03Some of them may have COVID.
00:05That's according to a new study by Virginia Tech researchers published in Nature Communications.
00:10According to a press release, the authors tested common animals in Virginia and found the COVID-19
00:15virus or signs of prior exposure in several species.
00:18These included deer mice, raccoons, and rabbits.
00:21That doesn't mean you should be worried about them getting you sick.
00:24The virus was most prevalent in places with a lot of human activity,
00:28like hiking trails, suggesting that these animals were getting COVID from people rather than the
00:32other way around.
00:33However, virus mutations that occur within wildlife could at some point end up spreading
00:37back into the human population.
00:39The researchers found one possum with mutations which had been previously unreported.
00:43Study co-author Carla Finkelstein said,
00:46What we've already learned is that SARS-CoV-2 is not only a human problem and that it takes
00:51a heck of a multidisciplinary team to address its impact on various species and ecosystems
00:56effectively.
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