Urban Wildlife

There is this trendy notion that lockdown measures that keep us indoors have had a positive impact on wildlife. All around the world, photos have captured wildlife taking advantage of the empty streets of our human-populated cities and towns by running... wild! 

The irony that it takes a deadly pathogen, which passed from wild animals to humans because of our impact on the environment, to highlight the devastating effect we can have on the natural world should not be lost on us. 

But yes, we rejoice at images of mountain goats gambolling through an otherwise deserted Llandudno, a Welsh town in the UK and penguins waddling along the streets of Simon's Town in South Africa. Or rabbits crossing a main road in Christchurch, New Zealand and turtles taking over Koh Samui’s touristy beaches in Thailand. Sure, these shots are heart-warming – but the idea that animals are taking over deserted public spaces as popularly described by many is way too simplistic. 

Captive elephants from Thailand to India are starving without the tourism industry that supported them. However cruel the practice of keeping such creatures for entertainment (and Instagram feeds) might be, the sudden dearth of visitors means many mahouts are left without income to feed their steeds. And you should know an elephant can eat up to 200kg of food a day. 

Other animals are suffering, too. In May, the Indonesian Zoo Association started seeking funds “to save hungry animals from being killed and fed to one another”, according to The Straits Times. 

Poaching is also on the rise across Asia as lockdowns keep rangers at home. In India, tigers, leopards and gazelles have become casualties of illegal hunting. In Cambodia, critically endangered giant ibises have been killed for their meat. 

“Rural people have little to turn to but natural resources, and we’re already seeing a spike in poaching”, Colin Poole, of New York-based NGO Wildlife Conservation Society, told Associated Press last month. 

Know that not all wildlife can enjoy their freedoms.