Quarantine helps dolphins return to Venice waters

For the first time in many years, residents of Venice saw a couple of dolphins in the historic center of the city, next to St. Mark's Square.

One of the most common viral memes of the first wave of the pandemic was the saying "nature has become so pure that ...". They joked that thanks to quarantine, dolphins sailed into the waters of Venice, even fake news appeared on this topic. Initially, this information turned out to be false, and the animal story was filmed off other Italian coasts, in Sardinia.

However, a year later, mammals really appeared in this famous city of Italy. According to the CNN TV channel, residents of Venice saw a pair of dolphins in a pond near St. Mark's Square - an adult and a calf.

It is reported that the animals first swam along the Grand Canal, and then headed towards the island of Giudecca. In order not to injure or frighten the mammals, the Venice police, using nine boats with acoustic guidance systems, created a small "caravan" and helped them return to the Adriatic Sea.

Sandro Mazzariol, a veterinarian and associate professor at the University of Padua, confirmed the presence of dolphins in the Venetian canals. In an interview with the media, he noted that the animals swam in the water for about 7 hours. The amazing sea bathing of dolphins in Venice was filmed by locals on their phones, after which they shared photos and videos on the Internet.

Italy has been the hardest hit European country in the coronavirus pandemic. In total, more than 3.5 million COVID-19 diseases have been confirmed in the country, more than 100 thousand people have died. The quarantine introduced in Italy turned out to be one of the most stringent, a number of measures to combat the pandemic have been preserved to this day.