In the Walking Dead Apocalypse I doubt anybody is playing online slots. But how is the animal kingdom handling things compared to what is happening during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Animal Life in the Walking Dead
The zombies are slow, and they do not have the skills to use tools very well. So although the zombies have no problem hunting domesticated animals, they did not fair very well with wild animals.
Now let’s look at some examples from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Chinese Zoo Animals Starve To Death
In China, the lockdown included preventing zoo keepers from going to work. This meant that nobody was making sure that zoo animals had food. When the lockdown was finally lifted, zookeepers found animals that had starved to death and other animals eat the dead.
US Cities Have Starving Cannibalistic Rats
Rats in cities are forming armies. Under normal conditions, they feed off the scraps of restaurants. But since restaurants are closed (and human are no longer littering), the rat’s main food supply has vanished. Rats are now in survival mode. Humans are hibernating, so the rats have three choices: cannibalism, rat battles, and infantcide. Rats are forming armies and it is a fight to the death. Whichever rat army is the strongest is the rat army that is going to take over the area.
Sometimes this includes invading the human’s homes.
Black Bears in State Parks
Black Bears are roaming in Yosemite National Park during coronavirus closure. The bears have woken up from their winter hiberation and instead of finding a park filled with humans, they get the park all to themselves. Generations of bears have learned to stay off of the roads and away from the humans. But with no humans and no cars, they no longer have to follow that rule.
City Streets Being Taken Over By Wild Animals
Animals used to stay in the forests, but now with the cities empty of people, the animals in cities all over the world are reclaiming their territory.
Animal Kennels are Empty
Usually there is an overabundance of dogs and cats in animals shelters, but for many shelters, the shelters are emtpy. All of the animals have been adopted. The only concern the government has is if these new owners will continue to take care of these animals after life returns to normal after this pandemic is done.
Pizza Loving Groundhog
In one yard in Pennsylvania, a groundhog was caught on video contently eating a piece of pizza. As the family described it, it was as if the humans were now the ones in the “zoo” and the animals had come to see them in their natural habitat.
Summary
End of times shows, like the Walking Dead, always try to predict how life is going to be during an apocalypse. It is interesting to see how our coexisting animals have adapted to the world’s current coronavirus pandemic.