Tourists may have cleared the streets of Italy amid the coronavirus lockdown — but dolphins and other wildlife are now emerging in the country’s much-clearer-looking waterways.
Italy’s tourism industry took a hit as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country spiked in recent weeks. But those who remain in the city have posted heartwarming photos of dolphins, swans and ducks making their appearances in canals and ports.
“Venice hasn’t seen clear canal water in a very long time,” Francesco Delrio wrote. “Dolphins showing up too. Nature just hit the reset button on us.”
Dolphins are a rare sight in the Venetian Lagoon, but multiple people have reported seeing them around the country, according to W Magazine.
They are most often seen in the Sardinian city of Cagliari.
The transparent water seems to be a natural consequence of less boat traffic, which usually kicks sediment to the surface, Pierpaolo Campostrini, the managing director for Consortium for Managing Research Activities in the Venice Lagoon, said in an email to ABC News.
“The low turbidity of the water does not mean cleanliness,” Campostrini said. “The transparency is due to the absence of sediment resuspension.”
The clear water is a ray of hope for Venice, which just months earlier experienced “apocalyptic” flooding — its worst in decades.
By Thursday afternoon, more than 41,000 coronavirus cases and 3,400 deaths had been reported in Italy, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Millions of Italians have remained behind closed doors since March 9, when Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte imposed a national quarantine.
Authorities have charged more than 40,000 people for violating the rules that only allow citizens to go outside for work, health-related reasons, or grocery shopping, according to The Guardian.
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