Bears, coyotes and bobcats are no longer hanging out in the shadows and have reclaimed Yosemite National Park during the coronavirus shutdown.
“The bear population has quadrupled,” Yosemite Ahwahnee hotel employee Dane Peterson shared with the Los Angeles Times in a piece published Monday, while noting a surge in the area’s megafauna throughout the park. (RELATED: Pearl Jam Postpones North American Tour Over Growing Coronavirus Concerns)
“It’s not like they aren’t usually here,” he added of the bears, coyotes and bobcats that he and other employees are now see hanging around outside their cabins and apartments. “It’s that they usually hang back at the edges, or move in the shadows.” (RELATED: Here Are The Members Of Congress Self-Quarantining After Meeting Person With Coronavirus At CPAC)
Wildlife is reclaiming Yosemite National Park: ‘The bear population has quadrupled’ https://t.co/wE5AKDb6Cr
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) April 13, 2020
“You couldn’t ask for a better place to be isolated,” Peterson’s co-worker, Warren McClain, a saucier at the Ahwahnee Hotel since 2017, explained. (RELATED: Wildlife Is Taking Over Cities As People Stay Home During Coronavirus)
On March 20, the national park was closed in hopes of preventing the spread of the coronavirus.
Just about 100-200 park service employees and some concessionaire workers are all that remains in the park, that last year in the month of April had 308,000 visitors.
And it’s happening all over the place during the pandemic. In Tel Aviv, jackals can be seen roaming in packs, scavenging for food in parks. In North Wales, mountain goats have been spotted in the streets while everyone remains inside due to the lockdown.