• Question: How will corona effect wildlife

    Asked by lemon222 on 27 Apr 2020.
    • Photo: Louise Mc Grath

      Louise Mc Grath answered on 27 Apr 2020:

      Hi lemon222,

      Great question! I think for the most part the wildlife should be safe from corona, as there aren’t many cases involving infected wildlife. I think they should be relatively safe, especially because we are staying at home to stop infection.

      The wildlife are allowed to roam more freely now as there are less people and traffic about so I think they will feel safer now. I have definitely seen more foxes around my house, much more than normal! There were ducks wandering around Cork city streets only recently, which is something you wouldn’t often see!

    • Photo: Aengus O'Connell

      Aengus O'Connell answered on 27 Apr 2020:

      Great question @lemon222. There is no definite answer to this question but I think there are two potential outcomes. The first is that after the pandemic is under control the environment will return to what it was. However, I take the more optimistic view that the positive effects seen from lockdown such as lower pollution, will change society’s perception, leading to more focused efforts to reduce the impact that human activity has on the environment. This would ultimately lead to an improved situation for wildlife.

    • Photo: Chloe Matthews

      Chloe Matthews answered on 27 Apr 2020:

      Really interesting question. I understand wildlife will be safe from the virus. At the moment, there are reports of much less pollution due to the entire world slowing down. There is much less traffic on the roads so wildlife can roam around more freely along our road ways.

    • Photo: Aisling Ryan

      Aisling Ryan answered on 28 Apr 2020:

      David Attenborough does great documentaries on wildlife around the world, have you seen any? I would highly recommend them. They are called Blue Planet and Blue Planet II. In one episode I saw Sir Attenborough was talking about how forests and wildlife replenish themselves. He said that if humans let nature repair, it will. One example of this is Chernobyl. There was a nuclear disaster in Chernobyl which meant that it was too dangerous for humans to live there. In this documentary David Attenborough showed how years after the people had left Chernobyl trees started growing and lots of wildlife returned to live there! In my opinion, coronavirus is having a similar effect. All of the humans are staying safe and staying at home which is giving wildlife a chance to come out more than usual. An example of this you may have heard is Venice in Italy- lots of swans and fish have returned to the canals, which is amazing. During quarantine when I go for a walk sometimes I see some rabbits, or a fox. It is so quiet that wildlife gets the chance to be out instead of us! Keep an eye out for some wildlife on your next walk!

    • Photo: Jun Lin

      Jun Lin answered on 28 Apr 2020:

      There are very little reports on animals affected by the virus. I think they will be fine. During the lock down, they even come to the empty city streets to walk around.

    • Photo: Ollie Otter

      Ollie Otter answered on 28 Apr 2020:

      I read in the news about a tiger in a New York zoo that had a dry cough because of the COVID 19 🙂
      And then there are also all those birds in Germany that are dying because of some mysterious long disease…
      But no one linked that to the COVID though.

      Obviously the Corona pandemic is horrible, but one good thing for wildlife and the planet at least is that there is now a lot less transport and industrial activity. And that means less road kill and also less greenhouse gas and other pollution in the atmosphere.

    • Photo: Katherine Benson

      Katherine Benson answered on 29 Apr 2020:

      I think that from the reports that have come out so far that wildlife won’t be getting coronavirus in the same way as humans, if at all. I think any impact on them will be a result of humans staying home over the course of these few weeks/months while we try to reduce the spread of the virus from human to human.

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