Life in the Animal Kingdom during COVID-19
While the humans are all stuck at home observing #socialdistancing, the animals have been having a good time. Be it penguins going on walking tours, sealions posing for photos, or even wild animals roaming the deserted streets, they're all having fun exploring the world.
Can you spot which is the real sea lion?
A family of otters even visited the KK Women's and Children Hospital in Singapore.
Another positive outcome from all this is the possible end of illegal animal trade. The coronavirus pandemic, which is believed to have originated from either bats or pangolins, has placed wildlife trade in the spotlight. Public pressure is intensifying to clamp down on wildlife trafficking. It is also possible that fear of consuming these animals may lead to decreased demand for illegally hunted wildlife, and possibly even end this century-old practice.
Not all is rosy in the animal kingdom though. Over in Indonesia, the Indonesian Zoo Association has launched an online fundraiser asking for public donations to help feed their animals, as the zoo’s revenue has been severely impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. In New Zealand and Japan, similar calls for crowdfunding and pre-purchased tickets are going on to keep the zoos afloat.
Even the animals are starting to suffer from the lack of visitors. Chimpanzees in Edinburgh Zoo are going to their window to look for people, and Tokyo’s Sumida Aquarium has put out a request for people to video chat with the eels to help the eels reconnect with humans. Hopefully the virus is contained soon, and we can all go out to visit these animals in-person.
This lonely eel just wants to have a chat...
Have you seen any other examples? I’d love to hear them!