How Some Animals Are Blessed In The Pandemic

The current situation of wild coming into greet the subway stations and city streets, takes us back to futuristic movie ‘I Am Legend’ starring Will Smith. The future has come nearer than we could have expected as reports pour in from Japan, Chicago, California of animals coming out of the wild and checking out the length and breathe of the city confines as they are greeted with silent and deserted surroundings.

The self imposed quarantine has actually become a blessing for animals whose habitat has been encroached into, and they have been pushed and pressured into surviving whatever green belt is left for them.  In Nara, Japan, for example the Sika deer was spotted wandering through city streets and subway stations, raccoons were also seen happily moving on the beach in an emptied San Felipe, Panama; and turkeys made a strong showing in Oakland, California.

Barcelona has pleasant four legged visitors too. There is a lot of wildlife to be spotted.  But there are mixed reactions over the movement of wildlife as people prefer to stay indoors to protect themselves from being infected by Covid-19 virus.  There are some species that have learned to evolve and depend on the leftovers and human trash. With cities on lockdown, such species might need to re-evolve for survival. “Just as many urban animals have adapted to humans, they’ll find ways to adjust during the quarantine,” shares Paige Warren, an ecologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Whether animals will come out of the wild and reclaim lands, is a fantasy story of the movies only. But there is definite movement of some, that are accustomed to human company, and have been eating off their hands for a while now.