After the stay-at-home order was issued, because of the new COVID-19 virus, human activities in nature suddenly decreased, thus resulting in wild animals in nature immediately noticing a change.
As an environmentalist and founder of an animal rights organization, I am very happy. Observing the reactions of nature in this rare situation recently will yield a lot of new information.
Many wild boars in Barcelona go to the town for a walk, flocks of sheep gather in the town more than once a day in Welsh, England and Mediterranean whales swim freely on the fairway when before they used to hide far away in the dark. In Brazil, turtles lay eggs on the sand, and hatched baby turtles rush into the sea in batches. In the past, due to too many people, too many children, or too many pets, the little turtles did not survive before they were hatched on the beach. Some were used as toys for the children, some eaten by pets, and some trampled to death before they could barely complete the final sprint. All these are changes in the natural world brought about by the pandemic.
The situation of sea turtles spawning in nature mentioned here is a magnificent sight but also a tragic sight. One single baby turtle is hatched out of every 1,000 sea turtle eggs. When they crawl towards the sea, a wallow in their step, they were experiencing the beginning of their lives, but also towards the end of their lives. In addition to human harassment, there are other animals such as seabirds and eagles that are harmful to baby turtles, resulting in the life path of the baby turtle being very difficult. This is what I observed last year in Costa Rica when I participated in charity activities for the protection of small turtles.
So, during this pandemic, we as humans are beginning to understand some truths. Even if you didn’t care much about animals in the past, your perspective should be altered when a group of cute deer appear in your community, or when a colorful bird is singing by your window…will you be indifferent to animals then?
During this time, I am living in San Diego by the ocean. When I was passing by the sea on my bike, I saw a group of dolphins swimming by the shore. My friend lives in Arcadia, Los Angeles and he told me he saw a mother bear and her cub walking down the street This is an unforgettable site that will last his whole life. These sights remind us that animals have lived with us for hundreds of thousands of years. They are sharing the same community with us. So where are they usually? Do they normally avoid us? Through these experiences, we see that because of the current reduction in our human activities, we have given space for wildlife activities.
The damage that humans cause to the environment is staggering. According to many research projects done recently, the human’s view on forests, the hunting of wild animals, and especially the trade of wild animals are all main causes of COVID-19. Three-quarters of the new virus came from animals. This is because human activities have invaded the animal's world, resulting in the virus being spread from animals to humans.
Especially in places like Asia, such as China and Vietnam, for a long time, they have traditionally traded many rare and raw animals in the farmers market. Because of the recent virus, governments in Asia has banned such farmer’s markets. This virus gives us the opportunity to once again look into the relationships between animals and humans.
This pandemic creates a sense of extreme stress in some people, but seeing these cute animals, we can't help but feel like they also need protection. Because of this outbreak, we don’t leave our houses. The animals quickly discovered this and used it to their advantage. It is like they were telling us how difficult their previous lives were!
Back to the baby turtles we just mentioned: when they came out of the turtle eggs, nature gave them inspiration and let them crawl towards the sea. Mother Nature provided them with the smell, sound and light of the sea water so that they knew where the direction of the ocean was. However, the light generated by our construction of villas by the sea and roads to build large-scale tourist hotels are causing the baby turtles to lose their way. Groups of baby turtles crossed the road towards the direction of the hotel. Every single one of them were killed by pedestrians and vehicles along the way. These tragedies happen on a day-to-day basis in South America.
This pandemic has provided us with a new sense of enlightenment. We hope that these newfound experiences with animals can provide us with good information so that we can learn about the selfishness of human beings and the evil of human predation against animals.