The Post Pandemic world is similar to what many would have anticipated what the world would have looked like while in an Apocalypse. While the life of the human race and the fast-pacing world has unwillingly come to a pause. Nature seems to be rejuvenating and rebuilding herself in the absence of human hindrance.
In the past month, the pollution levels have seemingly dropped, the ozone layer is trying to rebuild the holes in them, Dolphins have returned back to the Italian Coast. In short, this lockdown and human isolation seem to be a huge benefit towards our faltering wildlife and environment.
With this positive outcome in mind, The Wildlife Institute of India has come up with an app, a tracker to be precise. To carry out a comparative study between the world and wildlife before the lockdown and after life resume back to normal.
In this time of the COVID-19 quarantine, where we humans are locked inside our homes, there are more and more reports of wildlife exploring human-dominated areas or ‘rewilding’ urban areas. However, these records are stray and just circulated as Whatsapp stories for now. Wildlife Institute of India thought to collect this interesting data in an organized manner to help visualize interesting patterns of wildlife habitat use that are unfolding during this period!
YOU can help us in this initiative by reporting your sightings from your homes and be a part of a science experiment! Lockdown Wildlife Tracker is an app that makes it easy to record wildlife from the comfort of your home! These sightings can be reported in real-time as well as at any later period – but only till the quarantine lasts!
What’s more… You can even upload photos of your sightings to the app! This free app makes it convenient to keep track of what you see, while making your data openly available for scientific research, education, and conservation.
During a discussion with Dr. Monali Sen, Registrar Wildlife Institute of India she confirmed that currently, the app is only available on their website. However, the app is soon going to be up and running in the Play Store. The app is also currently accessible in only English. However, the introduction of Vernacular languages enhances the efficiency and user-friendliness of the app.
This app will help in the battle of preserving wildlife and what measures we as people can take, to help in its restoration.
For further information, please visit the website: https://wii.gov.in/lockdown_wildlife_tracker
Article by Ms.Sutithi Munshi
Photo By : Uday Krishna Peddireddi at Tipeswar WLS
