{"id":31025,"date":"2020-05-06T00:05:26","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T07:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/?post_type=custom_news&p=31025"},"modified":"2021-05-06T10:31:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T17:31:21","slug":"covid-19-is-not-all-good-for-wildlife","status":"publish","type":"custom_news","link":"https:\/\/hakaimagazine.com\/news\/covid-19-is-not-all-good-for-wildlife\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 Is Not All Good for Wildlife"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deer in Japanese subways<\/a>, goats taking over a Welsh village<\/a>. Since most people started staying at home to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic, the internet has been full of stories about how \u201cnature is healing\u201d; how the temporary absence of humans is giving wildlife the time and space to roam. So it\u2019s logical to assume that the closure of many beaches around the world would be a great benefit to nesting sea turtles. But the reality is more complicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, less activity can be seen as a good thing,\u201d says Todd Steiner, executive director of the Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN). \u201cBut it\u2019s a two-edged sword.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fewer people there are on a beach, the less chance there is for the turtles to be disturbed, he says. But beach closures have also disrupted conservation projects.<\/p>\n

TIRN, for example, usually enlists more than 300 volunteers to monitor hundreds of kilometers of beaches in Texas. Twice a day during nesting season they are out looking for the nests of critically endangered Kemp\u2019s ridley sea turtles. Every nest they find is moved to a hatching facility to maximize the number of baby turtles that can be returned to the ocean.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor critically endangered species where every turtle counts, it\u2019s vital that every egg be protected,\u201d Steiner says. \u201cBut those programs are interrupted; we\u2019re not able to get on the beaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some minimal activity on the project will continue, he says. The organization\u2019s two full-time staff in the area are still allowed to access some beaches once a week, but their ability to find and transport the eggs has been greatly curtailed.<\/p>\n

And just because beaches are closed doesn\u2019t mean everyone is staying away. Poachers, he says, are unlikely to respect the closure orders. \u201cIf you\u2019re desperate and need the income, you\u2019ll still be out there,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

However, the rangers and volunteers who guard against them are no longer present.<\/p>\n

Even for species that don\u2019t require a direct helping hand, beach closures can still hamper efforts to monitor and protect them, says Allen Foley, a wildlife biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe turtles might be happier because they don\u2019t have to share the beach, but we\u2019re a bit blind as to what\u2019s going on and will be slow in response to any threats,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The biggest hit to turtle conservation, however, is financial. Many conservation groups, especially those in the developing world, depend heavily on labor and money from volunteers to keep their programs going. The Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Association in Guatemala, for example, gets half of its budget through veterinary training courses and fees paid by volunteers\u2014income that has almost completely dried up because of travel bans related to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s completely shut down our volunteer program,\u201d says Colum Muccio, the association\u2019s development director. \u201cThe only volunteers we have now are the ones who are stuck here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The association is involved in wildlife rescue efforts throughout the country, including turtle conservation on the Pacific coast. It runs beach patrols to protect nests and collects eggs from people who harvest them. Harvesting the eggs of non-threatened olive ridley sea turtles is legal in Guatemala, as long as 20 percent of the eggs are donated to a hatchery. Since the nesting season has not yet started in earnest, Muccio says they haven\u2019t yet seen what effect the pandemic will have on egg collection. But the loss of the money and work from volunteers, and of donations from larger institutions like zoos, has already done lasting damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a couple months of reserves, but I\u2019m not sure what we\u2019ll do after that,\u201d he says. The organization has launched a crowdfunding effort<\/a>, but Muccio says it is unlikely to be enough.<\/p>\n

To help support organizations like Muccio\u2019s, TIRN and the American nonprofit SEE Turtles have launched an online competition offering grants to help them stay afloat. On May 4, people could start voting for a variety of different organizations around the world. Whichever group receives the most votes will get US $5,000, with one other group randomly chosen to receive $1,000. More than 20 groups have signed up to take part. The idea, says Steiner, is not only to provide funds to two deserving groups, but to highlight all of the organizations facing problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contest aims to get people involved and keep them active in conservation in some limited way,\u201d he says, \u201cso they can hear about projects that will hopefully continue in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Voting ends on June 1, and the winners will be announced June 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deer in Japanese subways, goats taking over a Welsh village. Since most people started staying at home to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic, the internet has been full of stories about how \u201cnature is healing\u201d; how the temporary <\/p>\n

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