A couple of 11-week-old white tiger cubs have died in a Pakistani zoo from what appears to have been COVID-19, officials said.

It follows other examples of large cats getting the virus, including four lions testing positive last December at Barcelona Zoo and surviving – as did a tiger at Bronx Zoo in the U.S. in April 2020.

The white tiger cubs died in the Lahore Zoo on January 30, four days after beginning treatment for what officials thought was feline panleukopenia, a disease that zoo officials said is common in Pakistan and targets cats' immune systems.

But autopsies found the cubs' lungs were badly damaged and they were suffering from severe infection, with pathologists concluding they died from COVID-19.

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Although no PCR test for the new coronavirus was conducted, deputy director Kiran Saleem said the zoo believes the cubs were the victims of the pandemic that has killed 12,256 people in Pakistan.

"After their death, the zoo administration conducted tests of all officials, and six were tested positive, including one official who handled the cubs," Saleem told Reuters.

"It strengthens the findings of the autopsy. The cubs probably caught the virus from the person handling and feeding them."

The World Health Organization has said that while evidence suggests COVID-19 predominantly passes between humans there are examples of transmission between humans and animals.

"Several animals that have been in contact with infected humans, such as minks, dogs, domestic cats, lions and tigers, have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2," the WHO stated after a mutated form of the virus was found in Danish minks last November.

Zufishan Anushay, founder of JFK (Justice for Kiki) Animal Rescue And Shelter, told Reuters that animals need to also be considered in the pandemic, saying the world "should not forget animals in pet shops, zoos and everywhere else."