Wildlife emerges amid global coronavirus lockdown

Ever since the growing lockdown measures have been enforced in countries around the world due to the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, a surprising phenomenon has been taking place. Nature has started to emerge in unexpected places.

Goats take over Welsh town

The lockdown in the United Kingdom has left many streets bare and wild animals are flocking to urban areas, especially in Wales where wild mountain goats were spotted strolling around deserted streets.

A video producer from Manchester Evening News, Andrew Stuart, has been recording and posting photographs and footage on social media of the goats roaming the streets of the coastal Welsh town of Llandudno. “This shows what it’s all about. They’re scared of me (a human) in this. They don’t like people. They usually only come down from the Great Orme when it’s windy, and only the back streets at the top of Mostyn Street. Now lockdown means it’s empty, they’re going further than ever,” Stuart tweeted on March 31, posting a video clip of the goats stopping in their tracks to look at him before proceeding down a street.

The goats were seen eating from neatly-trimmed suburban hedges and roaming around the empty alleys. “There’s no one around at the moment, because of the lockdown, so they take their chances and go as far as they can. And they are going further and further into the town,” Stuart said, who is observing the lockdown from his parents’ pub in the town.

Killer whales in Canadian waters

The goats are not the only animals enjoying the seeming disappearance of humans during the near-global lockdown. A pod of killer whales was recently spotted in Vancouver – a sight not witnessed for almost 60 years in Canada’s province of British Columbia.

“A pod of killer whales was spotted Friday in Indian Arm near Metro Vancouver’s North Shore. First time in my 59 years,” a resident told CBC News. In the video posted on Twitter, provided by Nicolai Ianovici taken in the city of Burnaby, at least three whales were spotted swimming close to the shore.

Italy sees more animals

As canals in Venice, Italy have become clearer due to the absence of tourists and the port of Cagliari, Sardinia has seen less traffic, dolphins, fish, swans and cormorants have returned according to witnesses.

Residents in Rome have noticed ducks in the same fountains, which only months ago were visited by thousands of tourists tossing coins.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) satellite Sentinel-5 has also detected a significant drop in pollution rates over Northern Italy since the month-long lockdown began in early March.

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