Wildlife take to the streets as people stay indoors
Animals are making their presence known on the streets and waterways as people withdraw into their homes during the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s a look at some locations around the world where the animals are taking to nearly deserted streets amid a widespread shutdown.
Semi-urban fallow deer are a regular sight in the area around Dagnam Park in Romford, England, but the deer have staked a claim on new territories in the vicinity as the roads have become quieter due to the nationwide lockdown.
Here, a woman stops to watch deer rest and graze on the grass outside homes on a nearby housing estate on April 2, 2020.
(Leon Neal/Getty Images)
(Leon Neal/Getty Images)
Wales
A herd of of Kashmir goats invaded a Welsh seaside resort after the coronavirus lockdown left the streets deserted. The goats normally live on the rocky Great Orme near Llandudno, Wales, but are occasional visitors to the seaside town.
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Town councillor Carol Marubbi told Reuters the goats didn’t normally come into town unless the weather was awful, but they probably realized something unusual was going on because there were so few people around.
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Japan
Like a number of tourist hotspots around the world, the popular UNESCO World Heritage city of Nara, Japan, has seen a decline in visitor numbers. Deer, well known in Nara for living within the boundries of their grassy park, are roaming in the city’s residential area due to shortage of food that is partially fed from tourists, according to media reports.
Jae C. Hong/The Associated Press
Despite the town’s tourism decline, these wild animals are doing just fine without treats from tourists, according to a deer protection group.
(Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)
Sri Lanka
This wild deer, from a herd used to mingling with and fed by the local population, roams in a deserted street during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in the port city of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.
(AFP/Getty Images)
Chile
This puma, which according to Chile’s Agricultural and Livestock Service is about a year old, was found roaming the streets of Santiago, likely looking for food after straying from nearby Manquehue mountain.
(Andres Pina/Reuters)
Italy
A seabird swims near a gondola in a Venice canal, the clearer waters possibly a result of the stoppage of motorboat traffic.
United States
And it’s not just the streets that are taken over. With their aquarium closed to the public, staff at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago are letting penguins make field trips. Here. Wellington, a 32-year-old rockhopper penguin, has the chance to meet belugas who also make the aquarium their home.
(Shedd Aquarium/Reuters)
