Has the wildlife come back?

‘Animals take to streets amidst lockdown’ - a caption that has gone viral on social media and is making news headlines these days. While some of the messages were genuine, many were made-up news such as those about dolphins swimming in the canals of Venice, drunk elephants in China, deer in Ooty, ‘wild pigs’ on the Mysore- Ooty road and many others. The video of ‘wild pigs’ was perhaps from a farm that in reality featured the white-lipped peccary, a pig-like hoofed-mammal that is found in Central and South America.

An incident of nilgai on the streets of Noida, though genuine, was also not a unique occurrence. It is important to recognize that nilgai is present in large urban parks in the National Capital Region (NCR). One of the country’s premier institutes- the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi airport and areas like the Delhi ridge all have wild nilgai. Thus, it is not unusual to see these wild animals in the NCR but some of them found it convenient to move on the streets now.
Other sightings such as elephants on the outskirts of Dehradun, or leopards entering suburbs of towns or cities, or dolphins in the sea close to Marine Drive in Mumbai are events that happen regularly and not just during this lockdown as all these areas are adjacent to the natural habitats of these species. Darshan Khatau, a resident of Malabar Hills, Mumbai has been posting sightings of dolphins from his balcony on social media for a few weeks now.

When a visibly sick small Indian civet was seen walking in Meppayur town in Kerala, the social media went berserk claiming that the critically endangered Malabar civet, which was not seen since 1990, had reappeared. In reality, it was the relatively common small Indian civet that can be seen even in towns.
If wildlife recoveries do occur, it will be the smaller fauna that will be the first to
benefit. Residents of Venice claim that they see fish and crabs in the clearer waters of the canals. In Peru, the beaches that were crowded by sunbathers are now packed with gulls.

Here in Bengaluru, one hears more birds now perhaps due to reduced ambient noise. However, there will be no takeover or large-scale wildlife movement into the cities or towns, as they have no habitat or food suitably available for them.

The existing wildlife such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, small mammals and others will continue to stay. For a major shift to happen like a Nilgiri wood pigeon, a bird of the forests, to move into Bengaluru, a lockdown for a few days will not help. It needs a drastic change in habitat that’s suitable for the bird. We could perhaps see smaller fauna like butterflies that have smaller life cycles benefitting due to lower levels of air, noise or chemical pollution. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is an increase in the population of some species of butterflies or bees in the short-term. Interestingly, for reasons unknown, I see fewer blue-rock pigeons, a bird that is widely considered a pest. I am unsure if this is due to a drop in the number of people feeding them or some other reasons.

We can expect fewer wildlife-vehicle collisions due to the low movement of automobile traffic, especially on highways. The lockdown provides an excellent controlled situation where experiments can be carried out and I’d be delighted to carry out studies on the impact of near-zero traffic on large mammals in forest areas.

The chances of leopards, elephants, or sloth bear getting closer to human habitations on the outskirts of Bengaluru, Ramanagara and a few other places are high. People need to take certain precautions, provide animals the required space, and not crowd around them so that they move away. Wildlife should not be needlessly pursued as it stresses them and many a time leads to human deaths.

The above is only a partial picture. The pandemic may not be a mere blessing but also pose a threat to wildlife. Africa’s wildlife tourism revenue is estimated to be USD 39 billion. Many countries like Kenya, Tanzania, and Botswana depend upon wildlife tourism revenue that is used for conservation activities. Now, the global lockdown has pulled out the financial rug from under wildlife tourism. With the loss of revenue, the protection of their parks will have less money and personnel, resources with which they conserved endangered species and habitats.

South Africa is already reporting a surge in rhino poaching and expects a similar trend with other iconic species. Closer to home, Assam is already reporting higher attempts of poaching of the one-horned rhinoceros.

In India, as Government incomes plummet due to closure of major revenue earners like excise, taxes on fossil fuels, motor vehicle tax and so on, I feel there will be a significant risk to nature. To offset the revenues we could expect the government to further relax regulations to extract natural resources. This could mean increased loss of forest cover under the liberal norms. The forest department is a non-priority sector and it could also see reduced budgets. There has been mass reverse migration, and many of it to the villages bordering our forests as a result of which, we may see an increased dependence on forest resources and more incidents of wildlife poaching.

The current pandemic, though a horrendous situation for us, is giving nature a break. As highways are cleared, factories closed, and effluents stop flowing into our river systems, the environment has certainly benefitted. But, for certain wildlife species to recover, it’ll need a different and much larger lockdown - a lockdown on habitat loss, protection of corridors and other strategies. Importantly, containment of catching and killing wildlife so that we do not face another murderous pandemic.

Cleaner air, stars brightly visible in Bengaluru skies, and nilgai on the streets of Noida, while fascinating and some of it a welcome change, will all be a temporary phase. Let’s hope that once this pandemic is won over, nature conservation will be on top of the society’s agenda.

(Sanjay is a Conservation Biologist and author of Second Nature: Saving Tiger Landscapes in the Twenty-First Century)