Written by Janet Akselrud and Darshini Babu Ganesh

Herds of deer roam around Haridwar, India. Mountain boars in Barcelona poke their snouts into the bushes under the street lamps. The noisy chatter of monkeys can be heard outside homes in Thailand. Goats clip-clop on the streets of Wales, coyotes make their presence obvious in San Francisco neighborhoods, and there are rats everywhere. Animals all across the globe have come out of hiding, wondering “where have all the people gone?”.

The COVID19 pandemic and social distancing haven’t created a new lifestyle just for us; It’s also a novel situation for the animals around us too. From zoo animals to pets, from lab animals to the wild ones, the change has affected everyone.

When we think of animals being affected by the pandemic, we think of our beloved household companions: our pets. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there have been no reports of the virus spreading between pets and humans, though there have been a few reports of infected dogs and cats outside of the United States. Nevertheless, it is important to wash your hands after playing with your pet, keep them away from your face, and avoid contact until more information is available. On the bright side, people are adopting more pets than ever before. Usually, people don’t adopt pets because they are never home. With stay-at-home orders, there has been a rise in interest for fostering pets. “KC Pet Project, a nonprofit animal shelter in Kansas City, Mo., received 250 requests to foster pets in four days, according to Tori Fugate, a spokeswoman for the shelter.” Since many shelters are facing reduced staff and support, their animals are in desperate need of adoption. On the other hand, shelters worry that they may see a rise in shelter arrivals as financial strains make it difficult for owners to provide for their pets. For now, it is clear that the benefits of adoption go both ways: the pet finds a safe home, and the owner finds a loveable companion during these tumultuous times.

Another familiar place where animals are kept goes eerily silent for the past couple of weeks: zoos. These places are known for bustling activity, rain or shine, and are home to species from all over the world. Now, the orangutans and chimpanzees sit along the glass waiting for visitors to arrive. Pygmy goats and other petting zoo animals arrive at the gates for feeding time, only to see that the children are still gone. The strain has been difficult for zookeepers. They aren’t considered as essential workers and it’s been hard to move back and forth between home and work responsibilities, especially when money isn’t flowing in as readily as it used to. Like many other zoos across the world, Neumünster Zoo in Germany has started discussing other options for their animals, like euthanization or at worst, feeding the zoo’s prey animals to predators. The worry intensified with news of Nadia the tiger of the Bronx Zoo testing positive for COVID19. The situation brings up the age-old debate: should zoos be banned? While zoos often emphasize their conservation efforts, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed how dangerously dependent these animals are on visitors’ tickets.

A vaccine is a probable solution for ensuring that waves of the coronavirus don’t keep reappearing and, as unfortunate as it may sound, no vaccine will be approved without animal testing. There are possibly several stages of mice, hamster, ferret, primate, and human testing that will need to occur in the process of obtaining a vaccine. Right now, in stage one, there are laboratories around the world breeding genetically engineered mice. For the mice to be useful they need to be susceptible to the disease and show symptoms that mirror humans as close as possible. The mouse is used to test the coronavirus is called the hACE2 mouse. This mouse was developed first by Dr. Stanley Perlman, a microbiologist at the University of Iowa, and was susceptible to infection with the SARS virus.

While some laboratories breed mice and some test vaccines, others are working to genetically engineer animals for future stages of the testing process. The larger the animal, the longer it takes to breed them. Dr. Stanley Perlman said, “We are potentially going to be dealing with this for a really long time and need to come to better terms with that.” On the side of comfort, infectious disease specialist at Washington University confirms that live virus testing only takes place in level 3 biosecure labs.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Google has been working to collect and present data on human mobility changes. The data is based on users who have turned their location history settings on. Keep in mind, no data personally identifying the individual is collected and everyone has the choice to turn off their location settings at any time. As of today, April 20th, 2020, the top four countries experiencing devastating effects from the coronavirus are the USA, Spain, Italy, and France in order. Based on google mobility data from April 11th, 2020 each country has had its own response to experiencing a pandemic. Spain has had a 92% decrease in people going outside to places of recreation like malls, restaurants, and libraries. The United States, despite having the greatest number of coronavirus cases, has only had a 45% decrease in these same areas. Even France and Italy, lower down on the coronavirus list than the United States have had an 86% decrease in visiting recreational areas. A similar trend occurs in the category of parks. The United States only experiences a 16% decrease while Spain, Italy, and France experience a decrease of 85%, 78%, and 79% respectively.

The coronavirus lockdown has greatly affected human patterns. Shopping centers, restaurants, and parks have closed while at the same time everyone has been encouraged to stay home. It may be hard getting used to this temporary lifestyle but, to end on a good note, our reduced presence on beaches has become a major boost to sea turtle populations. Reports of sea turtles, all 7 species of which are on the endangered animal list, have skyrocketed in places like Thailand, Florida, and India. The Guardian, interviewing Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong, the director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre, reported 11 nests of the rare leatherback sea turtle. CNN, interviewing Dr. Justin Perrault, Director of Research at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, reported a whole 72 sea turtle nests already counted on Juno beach, Florida. One nest belongs to the loggerhead species and the other 71 belong to the leatherback species. The Sea Voice News reported 407,194 olive Ridley sea turtle eggs in Orissa, India. It is estimated that 60 million sea turtle eggs will be laid during the coronavirus lockdown. Sea turtles like to lay their eggs in quiet, undisturbed areas. When visiting beaches that remain open for essential activities like walking, citizens should be mindful and keep a distance from appearing turtle nests to allow the sea turtle population to bounce back.

Since the start of the pandemic and social distancing enforcements, we’ve all had some shift in our lives. It proves the tremendous impact we’ve had on our world and the reaction of that world to our disappearance.

Originally published: https://www.kashmirworldfoundation.org/post/covid19-a-pandemic-or-panacea-for-animals