COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – To prevent the worst of the devastation from Covid, Sri Lanka imposed lockdowns and suspended flights from overseas for almost a year, weakening the economy and drying up a vital tourism industry.
However, it was a fun time for animals in the island nation’s zoos.
Given the absence of visitors, animal births at zoos rose 25 percent last year, according to Ishini Wickremesinghe, director general of the Sri Lankan Department of National Zoological Gardens. Particularly noticeable, she said, was that several animals were born that have no breeding history in local zoos.
“Animals actually have a less stressful and relaxed time without people,” she said.
Sri Lanka closed its zoos in March 2020 and briefly reopened them to visitors earlier this year before closing again as coronavirus infections rose. The animals bred for the first time include a black swan, a white peacock and a Nilgai, the largest antelope in Asia. Others who have produced offspring include an Arabian oryx, a black duck, a scimitar-horned oryx, and a zebra.
“We also have three new lion cubs,” said Ms. Wickremesinghe. “After years, the animals really got a good break.”
The boys are now about six months old. With no visitors nearby, adult lions can roam freely in their enclosures and group together with potential companions.
In Sri Lanka’s wildlife parks, officials have not been able to confirm whether the brood is increasing, but the animals are “definitely stress-free,” said Manoj Vidyaratne, the overseer of Yala National Park on the island’s southeast coast. “We usually see around 400 vehicles in the park every day,” he said, “but this time nobody is there.”
Creatures in captivity elsewhere have also taken advantage of the pandemic to reproduce. Last April, two giant pandas successfully mated at the Hong Kong Zoo, which was closed to visitors due to the coronavirus.
Sri Lanka, an early success story in containing the spread of the virus, has seen a surge recently, registering nearly 3,000 new infections daily, according to a New York Times database. The pandemic has exacerbated the economic hardship of a country that struggled to recover from the terrorist attacks as early as 2019.
Sri Lanka’s zoos, which are home to around 4,000 species of animals, are among the main attractions of the tourism-dependent country, drawing more than three million visitors a year before the pandemic.
Despite the impact on revenue, Ms. Wickremesinghe said she hoped to keep the zoos closed until cases fell amid fears that primates could catch Covid-19 from an infected visitor. “We don’t know what to do when that happens,” she said.
