On Aug. 4, the public went wild when an ostrich was filmed running around a subdivision in Quezon City. Of course, it was a feast for comic relief among Filipinos because it served as the literal break we needed from all the stress of the COVID-19 situation. But it seems like the Jumanji fever isn’t pausing its dice yet as several other wild animals were caught in public running free amidst the quarantine.

On Aug. 5, a video posted on Facebook by Adnan Pacasuma showed a random pig breaking free in Cebu City. But plot twist, it was running on a flyover past running cars.

On the same day, a photo from Chico Cabalatungan went viral on Facebook that shows a random peacock perched on some gate in a village in Muntinlupa. This sparked an interesting showdown between North versus South on whose entry makes a wilder impression.

Ilo-Ilo also joins the frenzy with its viral video of a cow running loose on a highway.

Just as we thought we’re easing in back to our once-normal lives after a long-enduring lockdown, we are reverting back to MECQ after a timeout was requested by our healthcare community. So when these random animals went loose, it served as the distraction we needed to put some light in our lockdown condition. Just as how every meme starts, the randomness it brought to our mundane lives inspire the silly minds of the Filipinos to hook in some humor on this mad phenomenon.

Noah’s Ark? Jumanji? Or perhaps a cryptic message that holds a social commentary for the thinking minds? Whether it’s a shallow joke or a woke one, we’re hopping in freely to this viral phenomenon as our happy pill of the week.

We’re living a game:

QC -Ostrich

Cebu- pig
Iloilo- baka

Kung sino man yung naglalaro ng jumanji paki tapos na po

ctto pic.twitter.com/nLheeHrDEV

— ⓙⓗⓐⓐⓐⓨ (@blueteeeaaal) August 6, 2020

A comics opportunity:

And the taho saga continues.. ft. Baboy and baka ???????? #Baboy #Baka pic.twitter.com/1c3f4fFdCL

— Sskait (@sskaitcomics) August 5, 2020

It carries an even bigger message

I’m glad we had a good laugh at the Ostrich, but the stolen P15 Billion pesos from Philhealth, allegedly by its execom members should be today’s biggest news. ???????? pic.twitter.com/IyE4eojRF1

— Janjan Comics #MassTestingNow (@janjancomics) August 4, 2020

It brought us glee but it also comes with awareness that these animals, especially the rare and wild ones, are to be treated with delicate care. The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) posted a statement on the ostrich incident that reminded us how to treat these animals, informed us of their present conditions while on their run, and condemned the ownership of these wild ones as pets.

Here’s the full statement as posted on their Facebook page: