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How the anthropause is a conservation benefit

In California, they found, roadkill fell by 21 percent in the four weeks after the state issued its stay-at-home order in March. In Idaho, the reduction was 38 percent; in Maine, it was 44 percent. A year of reduced travel, Shilling estimated, would save perhaps 27,000 large animals in those three states alone.


And although state records focus on the hefty mammals that endanger drivers—deer, elk, moose, bears, and the like—they’re mum on smaller critters, such as snakes, frogs, and birds, all of which have likely thrived during COVID-19. “We’re measuring the large animals, but I suspect it’s true for all animals, including insects,” Shilling said. (In Texas, millions of monarch butterflies succumb to grilles and windshields during their migrations to Mexico.) Add up all those less conspicuous casualties and extrapolate globally, and it’s hardly a stretch to say that hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of wild animals will ultimately be spared because of the pandemic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/07/pandemic-roadkill/613852/ Reply