Because of coronavirus pandemic and Yosemite National Park closure, animals and bears there are ‘having a party’!

• The coronavirus pandemic has forced the world to remain inside the four boundaries of their homes.
• No one ventures out and the animals are taking the most advantage of this sad situation of the humans.

Before humans had invaded their space and now they have a gala time moving around the places where just a few weeks before humans used to frequent and tread.

There are many videos that have gone viral of animals coming into the roads since they now lay deserted due to self-isolation and social distancing by humans.

Yosemite National Park in California was one such place that saw bears and other animals have a party with no tourists around.

Yosemite National Park and its changing nature

There was a change in appearance to the Yosemite National Park in California. Bears and other animals are making the most of this devastating state that has affected the world now.

They are having a party now since there are no more tourists visiting the place due to the lockdown.

Ranger Katie Patrick held a Facebook Live Event on Sunday 12 April 2020 and at that time said:

“The bears are just literally walking down the road to get to where they need to go,”

Katie has been working at Yosemite since 2007 and is a wildlife biologist who specializes in black bears. She was answering questions of the fans of the Yosemite National Park.

One person asked as to what the animals are doing after the lockdown that started on 20 March 2020.

To this, Katie replied:

“For the most part, I think they’re having a party,” 

If no closure, what the animals would have been doing?

Thanks to the closure of the park after the lockdown, animals can now move more freely around. If this had not happened, around this time of the year, the area would have been packed with cars and people.

There would have been a lot of congestion and it would have been an extremely difficult time for the poor mute animals.

Katie’s work basically involves her trying to decrease the conflicts that can occur when humans and bears cone so close in nature.

She is on the Human Bear Management Program. Visitors to the Park are instructed to store their food properly and also to keep themselves at a safe distance of at least 50 yards from the bears.

During one of her presentations, Katie had said:

“The goal of my position is to have as wild of bears as possible in this park,”

About Yosemite National Park

The National Park Service has 62 headliner parks. And out of these, Yosemite ranks fifth in popularity. Around 4.4 million people had visited the park in 2019.

A tweet on the Yosemite National Park Twitter handle said that the park is house to around 300 to 500 black bears.

As regards the bears, the post said:

“Though there hasn’t been an increase in their population since the park closure, bears have been seen more frequently than usual.“

During her Sunday talk at Cook’s Meadow in Yosemite Valley, Katie said that fewer than 1% of the bears are tagged. She also showed the instruments which are used to tag and keep track of bears who get habituated to humans.

Another fan wanted to know whether any human casualties occurred due to the bears. Fortunately, the answer was a big No.

But the post said:

“However, bites and swats by bears have occurred. In most of these cases, humans were too close to bears and the bears reacted to protect themselves,” 

Additionally, the post had a link on how to behave with bears in order to avoid a casualty or problems with them.

Yosemite enjoys a size similar to that of Rhode Island. However, most of the visits of humans are limited to the Yosemite Valley.

Luckily, this also is the place where the most bears are. The officials of the park revealed that bears in spring move around in search of food.

But this year:

“bears also seem to be a little more relaxed when they are out in the open. It is possibly because it is much quieter in the park right now.”

The date of the reopening of the park is not yet known.

Also, read Origin of coronavirus! Did it originate in the Wuhan lab?

Source: CNN Travel