Items

• 2020-05-07

  Pandemic Creates a Crowd at the Animal Sanctuary

  The pandemic lockdown ended, and businesses were opening up. There was still a sense of caution in the air. Masks and social distancing were still enforced. Still, travel started to boom again. People were going on trips by car, train, boat, and airplane. I traveled to William, Arizona. I had driven two and a half hours from Mesa, Arizona. The travel wasn’t hectic or riddled with traffic. I had made great timing. The scenery was beautiful. Went up the mountain and saw green everywhere. It was a nice change since I live in the desert. My family and I hopped in the car and headed off on an adventure. In Williams, a small little town was an animal sanctuary that I journeyed to. There were a diverse sort of species: wolves, bears, bison, mountain goats, and deer. It seemed to be an exciting trip. Bearizona’s park had a drive-through section, where I was able to drive to each habitat in my own car. The plus side was I didn’t have to worry about exposure to other people. I felt safe in my car. It had seemed that everyone had the same idea to come to Bearizona. There were long lines inside the park and where I drove through the habitats. There were times that I was at a complete stop for several minutes. It appeared that the animals didn’t like all the chaos in their homes. There were people honking their horns, yelling, and rolling down their windows when that was not allowed. I sat still and waited until I could move on. The animals started blocking the entrances and jumping up on cars. They were revolted, this made other drivers laugh and roll down their windows and take pictures. There was even a little girl standing up out of the car's sunroof. The whole experience was awful. I was not happy with the crowds. I understand that since Bearizona was a safer experience than being in a crowd walking through the zoo. I didn’t take pictures or buy souvenirs. I simply drove off in my call and headed back down the mountain. I reflect on this experience about how people were starved to travel, and stuck at home. When the lockdown ended everyone wanted to get out of their houses and go anywhere. We are used to going where we want when we want, but at the start of the pandemic life had changed for us all.
• 
  2022-06-01

  Old Faithful Yellowstone National Park

  The first trip my family and I took once COVID restrictions were lifted was to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. My family enjoys being outdoors and in nature and had been discussing a trip to Yellowstone for years. We rented a cabin a half hour north of the park and drove in everyday for four days. Each day, we took a different road so we could see as much of the park as possible. The most memorable part is that on the northern road, up in the mountains, there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground. About a week after we left, all that snow melted, flooded the Yellowstone River, and destroyed the road that we went in on everyday. I also enjoyed seeing the wildlife in a natural habitat, even if there were buffalo in the road a few times a day. The busiest day was the day we went to Old Faithful. Old Faithful is probably the most popular tourist attraction in the park aside from the wildlife. Everything in the area was busy; the gift shop, hotel, restaurants, boardwalks, parking lot, everything. This was the most people I saw in one place the entire trip. When we took this trip (June 2022), as far as I remember, there were no COVID restrictions in place. I would not have minded, and maybe even preferred, if there were as some places were quite compact. They did encourage social distancing in the indoor areas but nothing was enforced. It was, however, nice to experience the park in what could be perceived as normal.
• 
  2021-07-06

  World Zoonoses Day

  This is a tweet from the UN Environment Programme showing the driving factors behind zoonotic diseases and pandemics. Humans abuse of the environment is to blame.
• 
  2021-05-31

  Pandemic pets: Pet shops seeing more abandoned reptiles

  Pet shops in Charlotte, NC report that alongside the increased demand for exotic pets, there has been an uptick in animal abandonment as well. The pet shop in this article reported that the number of rescue calls they received doubled during the pandemic. Exotic animals abandoned outside raise environmental concerns. If some manage to survive the winter, they could pose a threat to native wildlife.
• 
  2020-10-22

  Turtle Baby Boom

  As an animal lover, one of the best things about the pandemic was the many stories of animals in the wild and in zoos breeding more successfully. Turtles around the globe were able to return to traditional nesting sites without the interference of tourists and beach goers. National Geographic published this article about nesting turtles in Florida. Some say the pandemic made a big difference in nesting success, others are less convinced. They also point out that the pandemic has caused increased poaching due to economic hardships. Finally, the article also sheds light on the ongoing problems turtles face due to climate change.
• 
  2021-03-09

  Birds during the pandemic

  This article tells us about wildlife, specifically birds, during the pandemic. As many other animals were, birds were a lot more active when the lockdown began. Some many see this as a good thing but this article goes into detail about the good and bad things that happened to birds during the pandemic. This article is important because it addresses a topic not many people think is important and gives more in depth into this side of nature.
• 
  2021-04-14

  Penguins in Cape Town

  This article is an article about the penguins in Cape Town. During the lockdown of the pandemic many animals were seen roaming the streets and some of them were penguins in Cape Town. This article explains what the penguins were doing and shows how the pandemic changed wildlife.
• 
  2020-03-24

  Climate change, Wildlife, and the pandemic

  In this article by PBS it is discussed how climate change, wildlife, and the pandemic all have a connection. One of them being that with more habitats for wildlife being destroyed, the higher risk for contact with wildlife increases which increases the chances of another pandemic. This is a short but informative article and they interview a doctor from Harvard as well who gives his input to this topic. He explains that direct contact with animals is the cause of the pandemic and if we do not do something about this soon, it will just reoccur again.
• 
  2020-08-06

  Widlife Sightings during COVID-19

  This journal entry is important because it gives insight as to why the wildlife sightings were important to note during the pandemic. During the pandemic it was noted by many people across the world that wildlife was a lot more active and out. This could be for a variety of reasons, some of the obvious reasons being that there is less human interaction and traffic therefore the wildlife feels comfortable exploring. This journal entry also explains how it may just be that people are noticing wildlife more, not that there is more wildlife. This journal explains how wildlife scientists were able to study them during the pandemic period which can help answer long term questions.
• 
  2020-07-15

  How COVID has changed ocean life

  This article is explaining how a team of animal researchers are going to track the effects of COVID on wildlife. They will be using trackers on certain species such as mammals, birds, and marine mammals as well. They are investigating to see how lack of human traffic will affect them, in a positive way. This goes for water mammals as well. This article is important because it shows the different forms of wildlife that can be affected by COVID from land to water animals.
• 
  2020-06-22

  Human interactions affects on wildlife & COVID-19

  This article is research based and is about a group of scientists who are researching how animals are responding to reduced levels of human interaction because of COVID19. This article explains the many social media posts that have been made about the abnormal animal human interactions that have been occurring and the animals that have been showing up. This research article goes into detail about certain struggles animals are having such as increased poaching and lack of food for wildlife. This article gives a point of view from both sides of the spectrum as far as a positive and negative impact that wildlife has had because of covid.
• 
  2020-12-01

  Wildlife activists during the pandemic

  This is an instagram post made by Leonardo Dicaprio. Leonardo Dicaprio is a very big activist for wildlife conservation and has donated millions of dollars over the years to help wildlife. This post specifically is talking about how the last year has had a hard impact on wildlife with COVID being one of the biggest factors. This post explains how he will be helping even more than he already has and how he will be helping and how others can help too. He explains in the post how important wildlife is to the planet as a whole and how we need to take action before it is too late.
• 
  2020-12-15

  COVID-19 pandemic impact on wildlife

  This is an article about how the pandemic has affected wildlife in a negative way. This article explains how the cause of COVID was from wildlife and if we continue to trade wild animals like we do now many more of these viruses may break out. Another thing this article touches on that is important is how COVID is not just a human virus but an animal virus too. Large cats in zoos were catching COVID as well as animals that were used for their fur in multiple countries. This article explains how the vaccine was being tested on primates which affected their wildlife negatively especially because a lot of vaccines that work on primates do not work on humans. This article touches on other important things such as support animals, animals raised for food, and how to help the cause.
• 
  2020-06-22

  Human effects on wildlife in a pandemic

  This article is telling readers about how cover-19 has allowed researchers to figure out more on how humans have an effect on wildlife. With less humans going out there may be a change to see.
• 
  2020-05-13

  Real life Jumanji

  This website explains how wildlife has changed since the pandemic occurred. They explain how it could be a real life jumanji situation and how pollution levels have decreased.
• 
  2020-05-08

  The world outside, during the pandemic

  The article describes how the pandemic has affected the natural environment in Arizona: the building of the border wall between the US and Mexico (with great effects on animals), the changes to how firefighters will put out fires during this time to adhere to social distancing guidelines, and the increase in trash in federal natural areas. It has described how some people have gained a new appreciation for the environment during these times.
• 
  2020-05-18

  Pandemic Boredom Killer: Squirrels star in Ontario couple's elaborate backyard photo shoots

  "As people across Canada find creative ways to pass the extra hours at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, an Ontario couple has found a new hobby that has both humans and critters going nuts. "Daryl Granger and his wife Karen are both photographers who own and operate RoseLe Studio in Simcoe, Ont. "'We spend a lot of time in the backyard and we noticed, "gosh there's a lot of squirrels" so we thought "why not set up a photo shoot,"' Granger told CBC News on Monday."
• 
  2020-04-22

  Wild animals take over lockdown cities around the world

  As people living in cities are shut away amid countries' COVID-19 lockdowns and the hustle and bustle of city roads are brought to a standstill, wildlife has taken over urban spaces. Penguins run riot in a Cape Town housing estate, Coyotes roam the streets of San Fransisco. A Kangaroo hops around Adelaide and Venice canals have become so clean and peaceful jellyfish have been spotted swimming in the canals of the ancient city.
• 
  2020-05-17

  First 10 images in "Diario de una cuarentena, por Andrés Edery"

  The first ten pages of Diario de una cuarentena, por Andrés Edery. It's a collection of 85 images related to local, national, and international news.
• 
  2020-03-28

  Beach Closed

  This is a local beach in southern Tasmania that was closed by the Parks and Wildlife Service (PWS) in an effort to curb non-essential travel and enforce social distancing restrictions. The image and the actions taken by the PWS indicates the extent to which COVID-19 impacted various facets of society and everyday life.
• 
  2020-05-06

  Nature coming back to Life

  It shows the wildlife coming back as less people come out of their homes and scare the wildlife from their true homes.
• 
  2020-04-29

  Screencap from NextDoor (neighborhood message board)

  screenshot from a post on NextDoor that indicates quarantined Baton Rouge citizens have been making concerned calls about "orphaned" animals. "An Important Message About Orphaned Wildlife Neighbors, The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has received many calls from concerned community members about healthy infant and adolescent wildlife that were mistaken as “orphaned.” They want to share with all of us that a majority of wildlife leave their offspring for considerable amounts of time, and that it is rare for a parent to completely abandon their offspring. Typically, a mother’s watchful eye is not far away. Unfortunately, when humans try to handle or move young animals, parents may not be able to find their offspring, or feel that the humans are too close for comfort to return for their offspring. For more information about what to do if you think you’ve found injured or abandoned wildlife in your neighborhood, visit the LDWF resource guide here: wlf.louisiana.gov/page/injured-orphaned-wildlife Thanks, and continue to stay safe and healthy. Eric"