COVID‐19 lockdown frees wildlife to roam but increases poaching threats in Nepal

Abstract To contain transmission of COVID‐19, lockdowns or strict restrictions of people's mobility outside their residences were instituted in a majority of countries worldwide, including Nepal, where the first phase of nationwide lockdown was observed from 24 March to 21 July 2020. This sudden halt in human outdoor activities brought positive and negative impacts on forests and wildlife. We undertook a study to learn the impact of the COVID‐19 lockdown on wildlife and forests in the protected areas (PAs) of Nepal. Between July and September 2020, data on illegal activities recorded by the staff of PAs and also those reported by media were collected and analyzed. Key informant interviews (KII) were done with the park officers and security personnel by virtual communication (telephone, messenger app, and video call) to collect detailed information and for corroboration. The collected data were categorized into four groups: (a) wildlife killed, (b) wildlife injured, (c) arrest incidents related to forest crime, and (d) arrest incidents related to wildlife crime. Data from the fiscal year 2019–2020 were analyzed, comparing before lockdown and after. Among 20 PAs investigated during the lockdown, the study found substantial increases in wildlife death in two PAs, Banke National Park, and Bardia National Park. Similarly, Chitwan National Park (CNP) and Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park (SNNP) witnessed a rise in wildlife poaching. CNP and SNNP are located close to densely populated cities and also have human settlements in their peripheries. Wildlife was sighted freely roaming inside PAs during the lockdown, presumably because the absence of visitors and human activities during the lockdown decreased disturbance. Thus, the wildlife was enjoying the freedom of movement on the one hand, and on the other hand was threatened by poachers, many of whom were laid off from other activities and were taking advantage of the lapse in security.


| INTRODUC TI ON
The first infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus was detected on 31 December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization (WHO) mission to China reported on 22 January 2020 explaining that there was evidence of human-to-human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (WHO, 2020a). The WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020 and officially upgraded the situation to a pandemic on 11 March 2020 (WHO, 2020a(WHO, , 2020b. To contain the spread of the new virus, many countries around the world instituted a lockdown, a restrictive stay-at-home policy. Lockdowns contributed to an improvement in the quality of air, cleaner rivers, less noise pollution, undisturbed natural habitats, and calmer wildlife (Bulbulia et al., 2020;Rutz et al., 2020). Rutz et al. (2020) termed this effect the "Anthropause" or "the Great Pause." In Nepal, the first case of SARS-CoV-2 was recorded on 21 February 2020 followed by a second case on 23 March Sah et al., 2020;Shrestha et al., 2020). Nepal imposed a nationwide lockdown on 24 March 2020 (Ministry of Health & Population, 2020) that continued for 3 months ( March 24-21 June 2020). Restrictions were then loosened and a month-long partial lockdown was declared from 22 June to 21 July 2020 (Ministry of Health & Population, 2020). All types of social and economic activities such as cultural festivals, social gatherings, tourism, transportation, and manufacturing were almost completely shut down. A positive result though temporary was that the lockdown cleaned the polluted skies of many capitals including Beijing, Kathmandu, and New Delhi (Mahato et al., 2020). Huang et al. (2020) reported that there was a huge decrease in NO x emissions in China after the strict lockdown. The restriction also increased ozone and nighttime NO 3 radical formation, which increased the atmospheric oxidizing capacity (Wang et al., 2021). Lockdown in Nepal coincided with the early spring season, which is the reproductive season for many wild animals including insects and large mammals (Chemineau et al., 2007(Chemineau et al., , 2008. Spring is also a peak season of migratory activities, especially for birds. Chemineau et al. (2007) observed that birth peaks in mammals and birds generally occur at the end of winter-early spring, which is the most favorable period for the progeny to survive. Most species show seasonal variations in their ovulation frequency, spermatogenic activity (from moderate decrease to complete absence of sperm production), gamete quality (variations in fertilization rates and embryo survival), and also sexual behavior. "Anthropause" due to lockdown in spring may have helped wildlife reproduction by providing more undisturbed places for reproduction and mating (Rutz et al., 2020).
While there have been many research studies on the psychological and economic impacts of lockdown, only a few studies on the impact of lockdown on wildlife and biodiversity have been published. The study of biodiversity during the "quiet period" of lockdown may provide a reference for the maintenance of undisturbed ecosystems and their services. We also must think about how the COVID-19 pandemic will impact the world's biodiversity (Corlett et al., 2020). This study aims to explore the impact of the "Great Pause" created by the COVID-19 lockdown on wildlife in the PAs of Nepal.

| ME THODS
The study was carried out in July and September 2020. Information about various illegal activities was collected from officials of protected areas (PAs) and published reports in the media. The information included incidents of poaching, hunting, trespassing, unauthorized collection of non-timber forest products (NTFP), fishing, and collection of fuelwood inside the PAs. Key informant interviews (KII) were done with the park officers and security personnel by telephone, messenger app, and video call to collect detailed information and also to verify data collected from vari- pre-lockdown and during the lockdown. The data set was tested for normal distribution and normally distributed data was used in T tests. T tests were applied to check for statistical significance, with a threshold of 0.05 for overall significance, using the Holm-Bonferroni correction to avoid p-value inflation. However, there was no significant difference in the number of injured wildlife between pre-lockdown and lockdown periods (Table 1).   (Table 2).

| Death of wildlife
Six musk deer were killed by poachers using snares in SNP on 26 April 2020, the 32nd day of the lockdown ( Figure 2). It was inferred that the poachers took advantage of the COVID-19 lockdown which forced people to confine themselves in their homes, including national park staff and forest guards (Nepali Times, 2020).
A similar situation may have applied in other PAs. In PNP during the lockdown, there was a deadly exchange of fire between the army and poachers in which one poacher was killed. In BNP on 27 March 2020 poachers killed an elephant, and there was an exchange of fire between poachers and the Nepal Army, which led to the death of a poacher and the injury of army staff. These incidents suggest that park management and security personnel faced huge poaching pressure both inside and outside the protected area during the lockdown. villages from cities. People were active in the park, especially in illegal fishing. The record of illegal fishing was four times higher than normal during the lockdown. Generally, CNP arrests 10-15 fisherman with gill nets per month but during the lockdown (Figure 3), more than 150 fishermen with gill nets were arrested and cases filed.

| Forest-related crime arrest cases
Gill nets can capture more than 200kg of fish in one sitting and they may also capture crocodilians, especially the critically endangered Budhanilkantha are well-known areas for mushroom collection, which was also practiced before the declaration of the PA. He said that cases of logging also increased in SNNP by four times compared to pre-lockdown. Some groups of people were also arrested while setting nets and snares. SNNP also increased patrolling 2-3 times to control the illegal activities inside the park after these arrests. Forest, Kanchanpur district reported that they arrested two teams of smugglers who were cutting logs in their community forest.

Smugglers had felled five trees and hidden six logs. Such incidents in
Kanchanpur increased in the initial 2 months of the lockdown.

| Wildlife crime-related arrests
Only six PAs had a record of arrests of people involved in wildlife crime in the fiscal year 2019-2020. During the lockdown, records of wildlife crime significantly increased in CNP (p = 0.02). The record was very high in SNNP too, but there was no record of any such cases during pre-lockdown. Wildlife-related crime rates were also higher in BNP and SNP, but these increases were not statistically significant (Table 4). Wildlife crimes were also reported from outside the PAs during the lockdown. Divisional Forest Officer of

| D ISCUSS I ON
Overall, it appears that all forests in Nepal including community forests were under tremendous pressure from poaching and smuggling during the lockdown (Himalayan News Service, 2020a; Sharma, 2020). The reduction in law enforcement and patrolling  (Szozda & Shutterstock, 2020).
People reported sightings of such rare animals as pumas in downtown Santiago, Chile (FRANCE24, 2020), dolphins in atypically calm waters in the harbor of Trieste, Italy (Rutz et al., 2020), jackals seen in broad daylight in urban parks in Tel Aviv, Israel (Dickerman, 2020), and herds of wild goats (Capra spp.) in towns in North Wales (BBC, 2020a) and Turkey (Reuters/VoA, 2020). Spotted deer (Axis axis) were seen in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Malaka, 2020), lions (Panthera leo) in Africa were noticed occupying highways (BBC, 2020b), barking deer (Muntiacus reevesi) were seen on the highways of Japan (Evans, 2020), deer and civets (Viverra sps) roamed in urban areas of Europe and India (Krishnankutty, 2020). In Nepal, there were not only more animals observed than usual in Kathmandu valley, but also some unexpected visitors, such as white Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), seen for the first time in 20 years during lockdown (Newslaya, 2020), and a report of common leopard (Panthera pardus) seen on the Tribhuvan University premises in Kirtipur, Kathmandu (Kirtionline, 2020).
It would be too early to conclude that the observations of wild animals seen in cities of Europe, Africa, and Asia, including Kathmandu, were driven lockdown and reduced human movement, as has been hyped by social media. However, it can be hypothesized that the impact of human activities on wildlife has become more pervasive than ever before, and it will be important to study its complex effects on wildlife behavior and movement.

| CON CLUS ION
We conclude that protected areas near human settlements in Nepal have experienced a negative impact from lockdown since forest and wildlife-related crimes were significantly increased. Death of wildlife inside PAs also significantly increased in BNP and BaNP, though the injury records of wildlife did not change much between prelockdown and lockdown. During the strict lockdown, wildlife was sighted more frequently and they were roaming freely. However, the diversion of security personnel gave opportunities to poachers and timber thieves, some of whom may have been urbanites laid off from their jobs.
A special arrangement of surveillance involving local communities could help to mitigate such illegal activities during any future lockdowns. (NNC-UNESCO) in undertaking the study is highly appreciated.

CO N FLI C T O F I NTE R E S T
None declared.

DATA AVA I L A B I L I T Y S TAT E M E N T
The data associated with this manuscript are available at: https:// dat ad r yad.org /st ash/ share/ EzQ dl 8 0 wDM 2yBS0 -bwisn sRT TS LX3XD g7Rl2 gUzQ xIA.