Survey of Gastrointestinal Parasitic infection in Captive Wild Animals of a Central Zoological Garden in Iran

Zoos are places where a great number of valuable animal species are put together taken out of their natural habitats .This survey was carried out to survey the gastrointestinal parasites in animals at a zoological garden in Tehran, Iran. A total of 143 fecal samples from various captive wild animals, consisting of 40 different species were collected randomly and analysed for the presence of the different stages of parasites by direct smear preparation and zinc sulfate flotation followed by Ziel-Neelsen staining method. Data showed that the examined animals were consist of 12 species of carnivores (36 samples), 17 species of herbivores (75), 3 species of non-human primates (11 samples), and 8 species of different species of birds (21 samples). 23(16.08%) of animals, that belonging to 14 animal species, were infected with different intestinal parasites. Among 143 samples from captive wild animals 23 samples (16.08%) were positive for gastrointestinal parasites that 5 samples (3.49%) belong to Carnivores, 13 samples (9.09%) to Herbivores, 4 samples (2.8%) to Non-human primates and 1 sample (0.7%) to Aves. The prevalence of parasites was higher in Non-human primates (36.36%) followed by Herbivores (17.33%), Carnivores (13.88%) and Aves (4.76%).Some animals infected with more than one parasite species and have mixed infection, thus, out of 23 animal samples that parasites were encountered, 12 (8.39%) were infected with helminths and 13 (9.09%) were infected with protozoa. The high prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites found in zoo animals examined in this study emphasizes the importance of controlling these parasitic diseases in order to keep animals, especially in the case of endangered species, in healthy conditions and prevent probable infection of humans working with these animals to zoonotic parasites. Keywords: Wild animals; Zoological park; Parasite, Iran