There is an uncomfortable truth hanging in the air as the Covid-19 pandemic screeches on. From Friedman in the New York Times:
“…if you talk to wildlife veterinarians and other conservationists, they will tell you that the breakout of SARS-CoV-2 from an animal living in the wilderness to humans was not only NOT surprising, but that a similar outbreak could happen again soon. So, don’t throw away your leftover masks.
“I really like how one of the organizers, Cornell University’s Steve Osofsky, a wildlife veterinarian, summarized how the health of wildlife, the health of ecosystems and our own health are inextricably linked.
“To say that a majority of emerging viruses come from wildlife is not to blame wild creatures, explained Osofsky. It is to make the point that through our own behaviors we “invite these viruses into humanity’s living room: We eat the body parts of wild animals; we capture and mix wild species together in markets for sale; and we destroy what’s left of wild nature at a dizzying pace — think deforestation — all greatly enhancing our encounter rates with new pathogens.”
“What these three behaviors have in common, added Osofsky, is one “surprisingly simple underlying cause: our broken relationship with wild nature, often based on a hubris that we are somehow separate from the rest of life on earth.”
Did you know humans are also animals. Surprising, yet true!
And there are a lot of us and we tend to be right utter bastards when it comes to the rest of the planet, whether it be destroying or killing or both.
If it moves, stick it in ya pie-hole quick fast!
As Friedman notes, first you have to spot that the problem is a problem.
“First, recognizing that many of the zoonotic viruses that can cause pandemics can jump to humans via so-called wet markets, which sell a mix of domestic and wild creatures from the land and sea — all crowded together, along with the pathogens they carry.”
Osofsky does not mince words either:
“While we missed our chance to stop SARS-CoV-1 and now SARS-CoV-2 from emerging, how many more times must humanity allow this cycle to repeat?” asked Osofsky. “It’s time for markets selling wildlife (especially mammals and birds) in places where people have other sources of nutrition to be deemed totally unacceptable to humanity.”
Good luck stopping humans munching animal bodies though. Is Covid-19 the scourge, or is it actually us?
[Cover photo: Data from United Nations "World Population Prospects 2019"]