Fewer people on roads, beaches and waterways amid COVID-19 social distancing measures could benefit protected wildlife, experts who study animal behavior say.
. With fewer people on roads, beaches and waterways, that could mean benefits for protected wildlife.
Since many national parks have closed, however, vehicle wildlife deaths across parks have decreased, Suess said."There's a whole lot less of that occurring now." "It is almost a definite thing that we are going to see fewer boat-strike deaths of turtles," said Godfrey."That may be visible in the numbers of nests that we see."The Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno, Florida, has seen an increase in leatherback numbers this year, with 85 nests marked on its 9.5-mile stretch of beach as of Tuesday, spokesperson Lauren Eissey told ABC News.
Preliminary data may show benefits for Florida's state marine mammal during COVID-19 restrictions. During the spring, manatees are more prevalent in Florida waters, making the threatened species vulnerable to deadly boating encounters. As of April 10, there have been 24 manatee deaths by boat so far this year, down from 41 for the same period last year, according to theA coyote wanders around Curry Village in Yosemite National Park on April 11, 2020.
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