When Covid-19 first locked us human beings indoors, the media slowly began to report about the sightings of rare wild animals in the urban landscape. Animals which had never ventured out of the forests or skulked in the shadows as we humans dominated the landscape. Then, Leopards and Civet cats and a whole host of birds which were only seen on the outskirts of the city or in the forest appeared and thrilled us humans with their close sightings. During the days of lockdown across various parts of India, we saw reports of ‘wild’ animals walking nonchalantly on the streets of cities, towns and urban clusters. It was obvious that the animals and birds found fewer people and cars on the streets during the countrywide lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and this we in our ignorance believed had healed the environment. The streets were bare registering hardly any human footfall.
In Hyderabad, this silence was broken on the empty streets with an unusual visitor: A leopard walked out of the forests, made his way to a road, leaving residents fearful and surprised and in awe of his beauty. It majestically walked unhindered through the empty street. Such instances were reported the world over: Wild animals took back what was once theirs, as people were forced to stay home. While Sambar deer wandered on the roads in Chandigarh, a small Indian civet was spotted on a zebra-crossing in Kerala. A herd of spotted deer explored the streets of Haridwar without the fear of being killed by moving vehicles. And a magnificent sight was the increase in the number of flamingos migrating in from Europe and congregating in Mumbai, according to news reports. Bird groups chortled with glee training their binoculars on the fabulous sight. The now pristine beaches across the country’s coastline became hatching grounds for tiny Olive Ridley turtles, while critically endangered Ganges dolphins made a return to the ghats of Benares. The lockdown appeared to be a godsend for the environment and our flora and fauna.
Environmentalists were overjoyed, as nature seemed to decide to venture out, as man was locked in. With decreased pollution levels in the cities and increased instances of wild animals in urban landscapes, the lockdown appeared to be a respite for Mother Earth to recover herself. In Uttarakhand, an elephant was reported to come down unusually near Hari ki Pauri in Haridwar. Wonderful videos of elephant crossings complete with little babies showed up on social media and WhatsApp sites in Karnataka. A leopard was sighted in the town of Almora. In Karnataka, elephants, spotted deer and sambar deer had decided to show off and walk about in towns, while in Maharashtra, people spotted scores of civet cats, mongooses and porcupines in urban gated communities. Here in Bangalore we have been enjoying the visits of the Asian Paradise Flycatcher. A beautiful and exotic bird I had seen only in my tiny village of Pilerne in Goa. It still comes to the massive tamarind trees surrounding the property and it’s so exciting to think it lives in the Himalayas and has migrated here for the winter! It flies between the branches doing a ribbon dance for us with its enormous, ribbon-like tail. We just stand there entranced, watching it fly catching insects on the wing, as it’s an insectivore. All these ‘trespasses’ have been happening not only in India but across the world, wherever lockdowns took place and regular human activities have been curtailed. The Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, is normally one of the world’s busiest marine routes. Huge tankers, cargo ships and passenger boats criss-cross the straits that cut the city in half 24 hours a day. Now, with a lull in traffic and fishermen staying at home during the city’s lockdown, dolphins are swimming and gamboling in the waters.
A magnificent and thrilling sight for people living in the area. There were reports that it was not uncommon to spot the tell-tale dots of a dolphin from the city’s quays, far away in the distance in the past. But videos posted by residents of the animals swimming near the banks show how much closer to the city they’re happy to come now. Dolphins are happy creatures, diving and cavorting in the waves to the joy of humans who got a chance to see them up close. Wild boars were seen snuffling and foraging for food around the city of Haifa in Israel, before the pandemic, but the absence of humans has encouraged them further, residents say. They can be vicious if they have babies in tow. So, the issue is now so serious that local officials held a Zoom meeting to discuss the expanding population. “I’m scared that after the coronavirus passes, the boars will have gotten used to coming every day, every night, every hour,” said a resident, worried that they would turn aggressive once humans came out again. However, some species are enjoying solitude in previously busy natural reserves or parks. In Albania, pink flamingos are flourishing in lagoons on the country’s west coastline, where numbers have increased by a third to 3,000, say park authorities. Thousands have been seen soaring over the waters at Narta Lagoon where they go to mate after flying from Africa and the southern Mediterranean. In Thailand, a herd of 30 dugongs was caught on camera swimming in the Hat Chao Mai National Park where tourism has ground to a complete halt due to Covid. The Dugong, also known as the sea cow, is classed as a vulnerable species and can often fall victim to fishing nets or suffer due to water pollution. The national park has been posting videos on Facebook of large swarms of fish and other species, and says there has been a revival in wildlife since the pandemic began.
People have been enjoying viewing the videos and the authorities are happy there has been a revival and reversal of lost numbers. However some animals enjoying these new adventures aren’t able to stay around for long. A Cougar can be aggressive in human habitat. Several cougars were found wandering the streets of Santiago, Chile and were captured and released back to their natural habitats. Can’t imagine accosting one at the corner of the street! But the thought comes to mind – once these lockdowns are lifted, are these animals expected to retire back to their wild environment – wherever and however limited the space is? To get a perspective of this, note that of the total land area of the world, which is about 510 million square km, 30% is desert and 24% mountainous, leaving us humans to occupy about 45–50% of the remaining area when we started to live as communities about 17,000 years ago. Prior to that, humans lived in the wild, along with animals and plants, as hunter gatherers. And over these millennia, particularly during the present one, we have built cities and urban clusters, thus making what was ‘wild’ land into ‘civilized’ land. With Covid-19 at least our animal and bird life have enjoyed some respite from us humans. ∎
