Humans are under lockdown following the COVID-19 scare but animals are enjoying a free run on empty roads. Videos and photographs of wild animals walking on empty roads have been making waves on the social media.

Two days ago, a small Indian civet, a nocturnal animal, was seen in a video clip freely walking during daytime in Meppayur town in Kozhikode in Kerala.

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One such video is that of a Nilgai (blue bull or Asian antelope) walking freely outside the mall in Noida sector 18. Though Nilgais inhabit the area and a number of accidents on highways have been reported on roads in this part of the state, it is not very usual to see a enilgai’ walking in the city areas

Indian Forest Officer, Parveen Kaswan, also shared the same video with the caption, “With the humans on the lockdown, the roads have become easily accessible to wildlife. This is a rare sight.”

Susanta De, an IFS officer from Odisha, posted a video of a group of Sambar walking on the road near Haridwar. Forest Officials of that area said that this species is known Barasingha’ and comes from the Jhilmil Jheel Conservation Reserve, a marshy grass land near Haridwar.

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Monkeys in Agra and Mathura are also enjoying a free run in the lockdown. As they scamper across temples in search of food, some of them are reportedly becoming increasingly aggressive.

“Monkeys have started attacking human beings due to shortage of food. In normal times, tourists and devotees have been feeding monkeys with sweets, biscuits and bananas. However, during lockdown and absence of people on the roads, monkeys are forced to go hungry. They are also attacking the shops selling frits and vegetables,” said a local official, adding that they had no directives to feed the monkeys.

Stray dogs also, in the absence of food, are getting increasingly aggressive and feral.

In Lucknow’s National Botanical Gardens, school of gold fish can now be seen swimming at the surface, creating myriad patterns.

On normal days, when hundreds of morning walkers chatter their way through the gardens, the fish slip deeper and avoid human contact.

In Lakhimpur and adjoining districts, wild animals, including tiger, are being seen on roads.

“It is almost as if the wild life is trying to reclaim lost space as human presence decreases near the forest areas. For decades, we have intruded into the forest areas, cutting down trees. The lockdown is giving the wild life a chance to roam free,” said a UP forest department official.