How Is the COVID-19 Outbreak Affecting Wildlife around the World?

The COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus at an animal market in Wuhan, China. Many wildlife species have been suggested as possible intermediate sources for the transmission of COVID-19 virus from bats to humans. The quick transmission of COVID-19 outbreak has imposed quarantine measures across the world, and as a result, most of the world’s towns and cities fell silent under lockdowns. The current study comes to investigate the ways by which the COVID-19 outbreak affects wildlife globally. Hundreds of internet sites and scientific reports have been reviewed to satisfy the needs of the study. Stories of seeing wild animals roaming the quiet, deserted streets and cities during the COVID-19 outbreak have been posted in the media and social media. The strong link between wildlife markets and COVID-19 resulted in international calls asking countries to shut down wildlife markets forever. Poorer and vulnerable people around the world overexploit natural resources including wildlife. Roadkills became minimal because of the lockdown measures. The reduction in noise pollution level is expected to improve wildlife health and ecology including breeding success. The shortage of food items provided to zoo and park animals constituted a real threat to animals and the institution harboring them. The increase in fish biomass comes as a result of the sharp decline in fishing activities. The isolation of antibodies from certain wildlife species is promising in saving humankind against COVID-19. The infection of wild and pet animals with COVID-19 virus from humans and the interspecific transmission of the infection are disastrous to animal ecology. Finally, closures may enhance people to connect more and more with nature in order to acknowledge wildlife in their surrounding environments. In conclusion, the study asks the world’s different parties to conserve wildlife in a sustainable fashion and to regulate exotic animal trade in wet markets in order to lower the incidence of zoonoses. How to cite this paper: Abd Rabou, A.N. (2020) How Is the COVID-19 Outbreak Affecting Wildlife around the World? Open Journal of Ecology, 10, 497-517. https://doi.org/10.4236/oje.2020.108032 Received: June 2, 2020 Accepted: August 1, 2020 Published: August 4, 2020 Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access

).   [15]. Pangolins are the most illegally traded and most trafficked mammals in the world [16] [17]. They are prized for their meat and the claimed medicinal properties of their scales [18] [19] [20] [21]. There are many theories claiming the transmission of COVID-19 virus from the bats to the Raccoon Dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), Masked Palm Civet (Paguma larvata) or the Chinese ferret-badger (Melogale moschata) and from them to humans. In addition to these mammalian species, snakes; notably the Chinese or Many-banded Krait (Bungarus multicinctus) and the Chinese or Taiwan Cobra (Naja atra), were also said as the original source of COVID-19 virus. The last conclusion was quickly ignored, partly because there was no previous evidence that coronaviruses can jump from a cold-blooded animal, such as snakes, to human beings [22]. As quarantine measures take hold across the world because of COVID-19 outbreak which started in December, 2019, the towns, cities and even the rural areas in most countries fell silent. The indoor situation of most people made these places calm. The wildlife harboring the various ecosystems like forests, jungles, coastal areas, ponds, agricultural fields usually aware of its surrounding environment; noticing and responding. In fact, COVID-19 outbreak affects wildlife around the world in several ways. Hence, the current study comes to investigate the different effects does the current COVID-19 outbreak impose on wildlife globally. The importance of the study comes from the fact that it is probably unique in its kind in times the current researches focus on the medical issues related to COVID-19.

Methods
This study depends mostly on media and posts of social media concerning wild animals that have been affected by COVID-19 outbreak and the associated quarantine measures. From the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the author continued the fellow up of all news and issues associated with the outbreak. Several Arabic and English news and scientific websites have been reviewed to meet the study needs.

Results & Discussion
The continual reviews of internet sites on how the current COVID-19 outbreak affects wildlife around the world were of great importance in giving a whole picture. The coming paragraphs, tables and photos point out much of the ecological effects of COVID-19 outbreak on wild animals around the world.

Opportunistic Wildlife Occurring at Urban Places
In most countries of the world extending from the East to the West, people have been told to stay at home to try and stop the spread of COVID-19 outbreak. As a result of this lockdown and these quarantine measures, a lot of wild animal spe-  Table 2 and Figure 2 illustrate a group of wildlife species (mammals, birds and reptiles) that were seen invading the empty, deserted cities and towns worldwide.

Preventing and Stopping Illegal Trade in Wildlife
China is one of the largest consumers of wild animals for food and traditional Chinese medicine in the world. A large volume of illegal trade has been recorded in the various cities of the country [27] [28]. In a modest study, Chow et al. [29] revealed the selling of 97 animal species distributed among reptiles, birds and mammals. Reptiles; particularly turtles, were the most commonly traded wild animals in China's wildlife markets. The Wuhan Market, for example, had a wild animal section where live and slaughtered species were for sale: snakes, beavers, porcupines, and baby crocodiles, among other animals. The sold animals originated not only from China but also Southeast Asia. Table 3 and Figure  ternational recommends that all countries with wildlife markets (including those selling live wild animals or their parts for food, pets, or other purposes) permanently ban, or severely limit, wildlife trade, transport and consumption. This ban should also apply to import, export and internal transport of live wildlife or wildlife meat intended for sale in wildlife markets [30]. The ban is encouraging in helping to address the fact that massive Chinese demand is driving some species to extinction. In this regard, the Chinese authorities have excluded cats and dogs from an official list of edible animals, in preparation for enacting legislation to reduce wild animal husbandry for the purpose of preventing the transmission of viruses to humans, as was most likely the case with the new COVID-19 virus.
Moreover, eating and selling bat and pangolin meat has been banned by officials in Gabon. The decision was made over fears related to the global COVID-19 outbreak, which is thought to stem from wild animal meat sold at a market in Wuhan, China [31].

Reduction of Noise Pollution Benefits Wildlife
Worldwide, human development introduces anthropogenic noise sources into the environment across many elements of the modern terrestrial landscape, including roads, airports, military bases, and cities. Cities and towns are very noisy places, with their transportation systems seem to be the most pervasive sources of noise across all landscapes. According to Blickley and Patricelli [38], noise can impact wildlife species at both the individual and population levels. The types of impacts include damage to auditory system, masking of sounds important to survival and reproduction, imposition of chronic stress and associated physiological responses, startling, interference with mating, and population declines.
Noise is well-known to affect how different species communicate with each other [39]. Francis and Barber [40] pointed out that chronic and frequent noise interferes with animals' abilities to detect important sounds, whereas intermittent and unpredictable noise is often perceived as a threat. During the COVID-19 outbreak and the accompanied quarantine measures, there is a reduced traffic noise. Such reduction in noise may lower the impact of noise on wildlife health and ecology and offer better communication and mating opportunities among the wild biota.

Breeding Success of Wildlife
Wildlife species, particularly birds, usually carefully chose their breeding spots

Reduction of Wildlife Roadkills
The development of roads and highways was known to affect wildlife by altering and isolating ecological habitats and populations, deterring and restricting the movement of wildlife, and resulting in extensive wildlife mortalities. Road traffic affects the natural environment in numerous ways. The most striking of these is the death of wild animals, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates as a result of collisions with moving cars and other transportation motor vehicles [44] [45] [46]. The term "roadkills" means the animals struck and killed by cars and other transportation vehicles on roads and highways. Very large numbers of wild animals are killed on the world's roads every day [47].
About 350,000 to 27 million birds are estimated to be killed on European roads each year [48]. In Sweden, ungulates (mammals having hooves) were of primary concern, as they accounted for more than 60% of the accidents registered by the police [49]. In fact, wildlife mortality on roads is a problematic with profound deleterious effects, including reductions in population sizes, increases in local extinction, and loss of ecosystemic functionality. These numbers of wildlife-vehicle collisions are highly expected to diminish because of the lockdown of cities and towns during COVID-19 outbreak. In simple words, fewer cars on the road mean less roadkills. This may explain the encroachment of many wildlife species, as stated before, into the deserted cities and towns during the current COVID-19 outbreak. The fewer transportation vehicles and people promote such a wildlife safety from collisions and traffic accidents.

Shortage of Food Provided to Wild and Zoo Animals
Many wildlife species in local zoos and parks like primates, ducks and geese rely on foods provided by humans including tourists. The current close of zoos and parks and other similar places to the public during COVID-19 outbreak may make many animals to seeking new sources of food. Many news websites claimed that the German zoos are in struggle for survival because of closures re- sulted from COVID-19 outbreak and its quarantine measures. Because of zoo's financial crisis, the directors pointed out that the zoos may have to feed some of their animals to the flesh of other animals from its inmates, and there was a screening for animals to be slaughtered before others. The directors added that seals and penguins and many other zoo animals need large quantities of fresh fish and food every day and they may have to kill the animals for mercy with them, instead of letting them die of hunger. From another point of view, the current COVID-19 crisis has had emotional repercussions for some animals like monkeys, gorillas, otters, seals, Giant Pandas and parrots that yearn for the attention they receive from the public ( Figure 6). It is worth mentioning that visitors can have either negative, neutral or positive impacts on zoo animal behavior and welfare. Sherwen and Hemsworth [50] pointed out that the variation of zoo animal's responses to visitors may be associated with several factors including the species-specific differences, the nature and intensity of the visitor interactions, differences in the physical features of enclosures, and individual animal characteristics.
Because of the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak, city-dwelling rodents find themselves unable to dine out on restaurant waste, street garbage and other food sources. There was an increase in rodent activity as rodents search for new sources of food. According to Helmore [51], complaints in Chicago, USA, have included reports of infestations in housing blocks as rodents seek new sources of food. Many rat species have been observed resorting to eating their young in the wake of urban shutdowns in the USA.

Fish Biomass Increase as a Consequence of COVID-19
In most coastal countries of the world, safety rules designed to stop the spread of COVID-19 virus, coupled with reduced demand because of unemployment and closed restaurants, have forced fishing fleets and vessels to stay in ports and harbors [52]. As a result, fish biomass was expected to increase because of the sharp decline in fishing activities [53]. It is well known that overfishing is an escalating environmental issue threatening fisheries resources all over the world, even in the Gaza Strip of Palestine in spite of its small marine area [54]. Overfishing has reduced the stocks of many predator fishes in the Mediterranean Sea by high percentages compared to their pre-industrial fishing populations. As a consequence of COVID-19 lockdowns, some fish species are expected to double their biomass.

Wildlife Saves Humankind from COVID-19
Current research reports announced that there is a success in isolating an antibody from a four-year-old female Llama (Lama glama) living in a Belgian farm, suggesting that it would form a barrier against COVID-19. It was claimed that this antibody can make the COVID-19 virus harmless. The antibody molecule was said to be found in camels and alpacas in addition to sharks. It is worth mentioning that the Llama (Figure 7)

Infection of Wild and Pet Animals with COVID-19
There is a possibility for some pet or wild animals to become infected with

Concluding Remarks
In conclusion, the regulation of native and exotic animal trade in wildlife or wet markets is of utmost priority in order to lower the incidence of COVID-19 and other zoonoses. Such regulations should be accompanied with public education and awareness campaigns focusing on the need to prevent new diseases by reducing demand for wildlife and its products.