tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/bushmeat-6709/articlesBushmeat – The Conversation2022-05-17T18:31:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1828802022-05-17T18:31:53Z2022-05-17T18:31:53ZOn the trail of the origins of Covid-19<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462448/original/file-20220511-14-wmpaxu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C4000%2C2215&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cave inhabited by bats.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/image-photo/huge-group-bats-waits-patiently-exit-1440955400">Sanatana/Shutterstock</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the Covid-19 virus (coronavirus SARS-CoV-2) continues to spread and claim victims worldwide, its <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00732-0">origins</a> remain unknown. Each scientific community puts forward its own <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/31/why-hunt-for-covid-origins-still-wrapped-in-politics-impasse-china-west">theory</a>, with some suggesting the virus may have leaked out of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-why-the-lab-leak-theory-must-be-formally-investigated-161297">laboratory</a>.</p>
<p>Another theory, based on recent studies of the <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/do-three-new-studies-add-proof-covid-19-s-origin-wuhan-animal-market">Wuhan wet market</a> in China, along with others carried out in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26809-4">Cambodia</a>, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04532-4">Laos, Japan, China, and Thailand</a>, posits that an ancestral virus in rhinolophus bats went on from infecting wild and/or domestic animals to humans. Indeed, in these different studies, several viruses with genetic sequences very similar to SARS-CoV-2 were isolated in these bats.</p>
<h2>A missing link</h2>
<p>Though it has been shown some bat species have hosted these coronaviruses naturally, the wild or domestic animal (or animals) that acted as a bridge between them and humans – the missing link – remains unidentified. Pangolins were first suspected, but now appear to have been collateral victims rather than one of these much-talked-about missing links. A coronavirus genome sequence detected in pangolins was indeed related to that of SARS-CoV-2, but the rest of the genome was <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10311-020-01151-1">too distant from it genetically</a> to back the hypothesis.</p>
<p>Moreover, the pangolins hosts in which the viruses that were genetically close to SARS-CoV-2 were found had mostly been confiscated at live-animal markets, at the end of the supply chain. As a result, they had been in lengthy contact with other animal species. It is very likely they were infected along this supply chain rather than in their natural environment. <a href="https://theconversation.com/origin-of-the-covid-19-virus-the-trail-of-mink-farming-155989">Mink farms</a> were also suspected of being an intermediate host in China.</p>
<p>Lastly, pangolins and rhinolophus bats do not share the same habitat, making it highly unlikely there was any contact between the two species in which the virus jumped from one to the other. On the other hand, civets and raccoon dogs could be an intermediate source of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16140765/">SARS-CoV-1</a>). Rodents or primates could also carry pathogens with zoonotic potential, such as hantaviruses – which can cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome – or filoviruses, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2002324118">which include the Ebola virus</a>. The latter is passed on to humans through wild animals, in particular bats, antelopes, and primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas, then spreads among humans, mainly by direct contact with blood, secretions and other bodily fluids from infected people. The average case fatality rate is around 50%.</p>
<p>In 2013, initial cases of disease from the Ebola virus were detected in <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34424896">West Africa</a>. The rise of these cases led to over 10,000 deaths, mainly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.</p>
<h2>The risky habit of bushmeat-eating</h2>
<p>Activities such as hunting, animal-handling or eating meat from wild animals therefore create the conditions for viruses to spread from animals to humans – a potentially devastating phenomenon called “spillover”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cirad.fr/en/cirad-news/news/2020/science/covid-19-zoocov-a-new-project-to-prevent-coronavirus-transmission-from-wildlife-to-humans">ZooCov</a> project has sought to define and quantify this risk in Cambodia. For almost two years – and right from the start of the pandemic – it has adopted a <a href="https://www.oie.int/en/what-we-do/global-initiatives/one-health/">“One Health”</a> approach to explore whether – and how – pathogens such as coronaviruses can be passed on to humans from wild animals that are hunted and eaten.</p>
<p>Indeed, in South-East Asia, wild animals are regularly traded, and bushmeat is customarily eaten. This eating habit is often opportunistic. In some communities, it complements a low-protein diet. It can also be frequent and targeted. In Cambodia, 77% of 107 families interviewed in the ZooCov project said they had eaten bushmeat in the <a href="https://www.cirad.fr/en/cirad-news/news/2022/coronavirus-surveillance-a-concrete-example-of-the-one-health-approach-in-action-in-cambodia">past month</a>.</p>
<p>Use for medicinal purposes is also widespread. In Vietnam, an <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35356028/">analysis of records</a> of the Vietnamese authorities confiscating pangolins and related by-products between 2016 and 2020 reported 1,342 live pangolins (6,330 kg), 759 dead pangolins or pangolin carcasses (3,305 kg), and 43,902 kg of pangolin scales.</p>
<p>Yet this consumption also has a cultural and social dimension that is still not properly understood. Among the well-off – and often in big cities – people sometimes eat bushmeat out of a desire for social status, and a belief that eating it endows them with the physical or physiological <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30063-3/fulltext">attributes</a> of the animal. They also sometimes eat bushmeat out of rejection of industrially produced meat, considered unhealthy. Animals are widely reared to meet this demand and the demand for <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-fur-farming-risk-assessment-2021.1">fur production</a>.</p>
<p>In the Stung Treng and Mondolkiri provinces of Cambodia, where protected forest areas remain, researchers surveyed more than 900 people living on the edge of these forests to determine the structure of the illegal bushmeat trade. Statistical analyses are underway to identify the people most at risk of contact with wildlife thus with such pathogens. We already know those exposed are mostly young middle-class men, and that some communities are more exposed than others. Sociological studies have also helped better grasp today’s context: the legal framework, the profiles of players in the trade, their motives and deterrents in trade and consumption of wild animals, and how the context has changed with each different health crisis (bird flu, Ebola, SARS-CoV-1, etc.).</p>
<h2>Which populations are most at risk?</h2>
<p>These successive crises seem to have scarcely affected the habits of these communities. Beyond regularly eating bushmeat, one fourth of the families surveyed said they still hunted or ensnared wild animals, and 11% claimed to sell bushmeat or wild animals. Furthermore, in the same areas of study, over 2,000 samples taken from wild animals trafficked or eaten for subsistence – bats, rodents, turtles, monkeys, birds, wild pigs, etc. – were analysed. Some of these samples tested positive for coronaviruses and scientists at the Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) are currently sequencing their genome in a bid to learn more about their origin, evolution, and zoonotic potential. Finally, researchers collected blood samples from over 900 people from the same region to find out whether they had been in contact with a coronavirus or coronaviruses. These analyses are still underway, but what we do know is that these people had not been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 when the survey was conducted.</p>
<p>If the Covid crisis has taught us anything, it is the importance of detecting such emergences early in order to nip the pathogens in the bud. While many questions remain about the way cases emerge, there are just as many questions about the monitoring systems that should be set up to track them. The results of the ZooCov project will be used to develop a system for detecting spillover of zoonotic viruses early, particularly by strengthening the system for monitoring wildlife health that is already in operation in Cambodia, which was set up by the <a href="https://cambodia.wcs.org/Initiatives/Wildlife-Health.aspx">Wildlife Conservation Society</a> (WCS). Other large-scale projects in research and development will help us understand, detect, and prevent these phenomena of emerging cases.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors would like to thank Cambodia’s Ministry of Health, its Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and its Ministry of Environment, as well as all the project’s partners: Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Flora and Fauna International (FFI), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Hong Kong University (HKU), the GREASE network, International Development Enterprise (iDE), the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment (ELIE), BirdLife International, Jahoo, and World Hope International.</em></p>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Thomas Young for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en">Fast ForWord</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182880/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Véronique Chevalier a reçu des financements de l'Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), la Région Occitanie et la Fondation Pasteur.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>François Roger et Julia Guillebaud ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.</span></em></p>Scientists exploring the possibility of an animal origin for Covid-19 are still investigating the missing link between bats and human beings.Véronique Chevalier, Veterinarian epidemiologist, CiradFrançois Roger, Directeur régional Asie du Sud-Est, vétérinaire et épidémiologiste, CiradJulia Guillebaud, Ingénieure de recherche , Institut PasteurLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1559892021-03-14T17:49:50Z2021-03-14T17:49:50ZOrigin of the Covid-19 virus: the trail of mink farming<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/386115/original/file-20210224-22-gwyngc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">file pvuzfi</span> </figcaption></figure><p>On January 14, a team of international experts commissioned by the World Health Organization <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-who-china-int/who-team-arrives-in-chinas-wuhan-to-investigate-covid-19-origins-idUSKBN29J06O">arrived in China</a> for a three-week mission with the aim of visiting Wuhan to meet <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6526/222">Chinese scientists</a> and help to pinpoint the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the pandemic. The mission has <a href="https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/COVID%20OPEN%20LETTER%20FINAL%20030421%20(1).pdf">received criticism</a>, and some scientists are calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of the pandemic in China.</p>
<p>The Covid-19 crisis has shown that past plans aimed at preparing for pandemics were not sufficient. To prevent future pandemics, strategies must be in place before viruses even begin to develop in humans – in other words, within the <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00031-0/fulltext">animal kingdom and at the animal-human interface</a>.</p>
<p>It is therefore essential to identify the origin, the evolutionary processes and the initial chains of transmission that led to the current pandemic. This must also be seen in the light of the <a href="https://ipbes.net/pandemics">determinants of that emergence</a>.</p>
<p>It is thought that the coronaviruses that have emerged in recent years (SARS, MERS-CoV) circulate in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-03128-0">bats</a> and were transmitted to humans by intermediate host animals. These diseases are known as zoonoses. The role of a domestic or wild animal is often observed in the case of zoonotic coronaviruses – the <a href="https://www.cirad.fr/en/news/all-news-items/press-releases/2018/is-mers-cov-a-threat-for-africa">camel for MERS-CoV</a> and the <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/302/5643/276.long">masked palm civet for SARS</a>, although <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168170207001050">doubts persist</a> about whether it is indeed this small mammal that is involved, rather than other wild animals raised in China.</p>
<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a zoonosis as a disease or infection naturally transmissible from vertebrates to humans – and vice versa. The current pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has been class as a zoonosis, but no animal reservoir or intermediate host has yet been formally identified. This classification thus seems premature to some authors who identify this disease as an <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.596944/full">“emerging infectious disease (EID) probably of animal origin”</a>.</p>
<p>The first patients officially declared to have Covid-19 in China were probably exposed to the virus at a seafood market in Wuhan. However, while some of the swab samples taken from surfaces and cages in the market tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, no virus has been isolated directly from animals and no animal reservoir has yet been identified. Nevertheless, the hypothesis (animal lead) is that the coronavirus evolved from an ancestral virus found in bats, via an <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/120">as-yet unidentified mammal</a>.</p>
<h2>Many different species can be infected with SARS-CoV-2</h2>
<p>The virus has been detected in <a href="https://www.oie.int/en/scientific-expertise/specific-information-and-recommendations/questions-and-answers-on-2019novel-coronavirus/events-in-animals/">animals</a> exposed to infected humans – domestic cats, dogs and ferrets, captive lions and tigers, farmed mink – as well as <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/captive-gorillas-test-positive-coronavirus?utm_campaign=news_daily_2021-01-12&et_rid=99222828&et_cid=3627674">gorillas</a>, indicating possible transmission from humans to animals (reverse zoonosis) and the receptivity and susceptibility of carnivores, in particular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustelidae">mustelids</a>.</p>
<p>One of the recent hypotheses as to the intermediate host that may have allowed the evolution of an ancestral virus into SARS-CoV-2 (the Covid-19 virus) concerns mink that are raised in China for their fur. In China, the rearing of wild animals for food, therapeutic purposes and fur has grown considerably over time, and is now the livelihood of millions of people.</p>
<p>Fur production has grown rapidly in China since the 1990s and most farms were built recently, with <a href="http://ifasanet.org/scientifur_integral_issues/vol35/Scientifur_35_3.pdf">little technical or veterinary supervision</a>. Its economic importance is now considerable, with fur farming employing around 7 million people. The main species farmed in China for fur are mink, fox and raccoon dog, with annual production estimated at, respectively, 21, 17 and 12 million animals slaughtered in 2018. The mink-farming industry is largely unstructured. According to 2016 estimates, almost half of farms are small-scale family businesses with fewer than 1,000 mink, while the remainder are medium-sized farms as well as a minority of integrated factory farms with between <a href="https://www.actasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/China-Fur-Report-7.4-DIGITAL-2.pdf">10,000 and 52,000 animals</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389276/original/file-20210312-16-nzmof0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389276/original/file-20210312-16-nzmof0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/389276/original/file-20210312-16-nzmof0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389276/original/file-20210312-16-nzmof0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389276/original/file-20210312-16-nzmof0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389276/original/file-20210312-16-nzmof0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389276/original/file-20210312-16-nzmof0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/389276/original/file-20210312-16-nzmof0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">American mink distribution areas. The species was introduced into Eurasia for the production of fur, but many individuals escape from farms or are released into the wild). The cases of Covid-19 (OIE) declared on farms correspond to transmission from humans to animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CIRAD</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The receptivity and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 of mustelids, including the American mink (<em>Neovison vison</em>), documented in the context of <a href="https://www.wur.nl/en/show/Questions-and-answers-regarding-infection-with-COVID-19-in-mink.htm">transmission from humans carrying the virus</a>, and taking into account other genetic, economic, ecological and epidemiological elements, direct suspicions toward these species. Moreover, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/36/22311">work on cell receptors (ACE2)</a> has shown that many species could be receptive to SARS-CoV-2, particularly primates or carnivores. However, the authors of this study stress the importance of avoiding over-interpreting the predictions put forward and point out that experimental and observational data in the field are required.</p>
<h2>Infectious diseases are on the rise</h2>
<p>Infectious diseases have emerged with increasing frequency since the mid-20th century, and they’re more probable in geographical zones marked by an increase in the pressure exerted by man on natural areas, by great animal biodiversity, by the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0293-3">transformation of natural spaces into agricultural land</a>, and by the <a href="https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/12/04-0789_article">hunting and capture of wild animals</a>. In developing countries, more than cultural factors, it is often the combination of economic insecurity and low agricultural productivity that lead poor rural communities to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X12002240">harvest wild animals or their products</a>, to use as food (bushmeat), commercial products, or agricultural inputs. This is the case with <a href="http://jtropag.kau.in/index.php/ojs2/article/view/320">bat guano</a>, which is used as a fertilizer in Southeast Asia.</p>
<p>Domestic and wild animal production promotes the spread and increased virulence of emerging pathogens, due among other things to the transport of animals over long distances, and to the storage of high densities of animals with shirt life cycles and often with limited attention to biosecurity. In addition, breeders follow cost-cutting strategies that can hinder the early detection and control of emerging diseases: animals showing symptoms of disease are <a href="https://elifesciences.org/articles/59212">quickly sold</a>. The lack of transparency in animal supply chains often allows <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/zph.12212">sick animals to be marketed along with others that are healthy</a>.</p>
<p>These elements provide a better understanding of how mink farms could have acted as an <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6525/120">intermediary between bats and humans in the case of SARS-CoV-2</a>. This phenomenon was observed for avian influenza, with the virus being introduced through contact with asymptomatic wild reservoirs (palmipeds), followed by the amplification of the disease in intensive, high-density farms and the eventual production of <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2018.00084/full">mutant viral strains</a> that are virulent for the initial wild reservoir species.</p>
<h2>Economic fears</h2>
<p>The acceptability of health surveillance systems also comes up <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/zph.12212">against economic logic</a>, with farmers fearing the impact of announcements of disease outbreaks on market prices and their ability to export. Conversely, the mass slaughter of farm animals often pushes up prices, as seen in China after Denmark’s slaughter of farmed mink, and paradoxically increases the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-mink/chinas-fur-farms-see-opportunity-as-countries-cull-mink-over-coronavirus-fears-idUSKBN28D0PV">profits of farmers not affected by the control measures</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to ecological factors, economic factors are frequently encountered in low- and middle-income countries: economic insecurity of poor rural farmers, rapid growth in exploitation of wild and farmed species to meet growing demand for animal products, and a lack of transparency in agricultural sectors.</p>
<p>Studies are necessary in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-one-health-concept-must-prevail-to-allow-us-to-prevent-pandemics-148378">One Health perspective</a>. This would involve looking for viruses and antibodies in samples collected and stored <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00436-020-06909-8">before the Covid-19 pandemic</a> through various studies in animals and humans; analyzing samples from mink farms, but also raccoon dogs (<em>Nyctereutes procyonoides</em>) and foxes (<em>Vulpes</em> spp.) for coronavirus and typing any viruses found; conducting epidemiological studies based on serologies specific to a response to SARS-CoV-2 on those farms, on animals and exposed human populations; and analyzing and modeling the links between bats and wildlife farms and between these farms and human populations.</p>
<p>Fur breeders should be surveyed on how they manage infectious disease cases, since their response (attempted treatment, selective sale of sick animals, etc.) can influence the risk of emergence in humans. Studies are required relating to the organization of the fur industry and its links with wild animal or wild animal product supply chains.</p>
<p>Field projects are focusing on studying the risks of the emergence of coronaviruses from wildlife and the wildlife trade. The <a href="https://www.cirad.fr/en/news/all-news-items/articles/2020/science/covid-19-zoocov-a-new-project-to-prevent-coronavirus-transmission-from-wildlife-to-humans">ZooCoV</a> project, which began in Cambodia and associates CIRAD, the Institut Pasteur in Cambodia, IRD and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), should boost our knowledge of wild-meat supply chains and thus help prevent and control the health risks associated with such practices.</p>
<h2>Prevention is the key</h2>
<p>On a more global scale, it is necessary to prevent the risks of zoonotic emergencies and pandemics. To this end, the <a href="https://www.cirad.fr/en/news/all-news-items/press-releases/2021/prezode-preventing-pandemics">PREZODE</a> initiative, announced during the January 2021 “One Planet Summit”, will build on and strengthen existing cooperation with the world regions most exposed to the risk of zoonotic disease emergence. PREZODE will support the integration and strengthening of human, animal and environmental health networks, in line with the One Health approach, in order to better assess and detect threats of zoonotic disease emergence and develop prevention operations with the entire range of stakeholders so as to protect people, the planet and socio-ecosystems and thus reduce pandemic risks.</p>
<p>Following the China mission, the team of experts appointed by the WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/covid-19-virtual-press-conference-transcript---9-february-2021">concluded</a> that the hypothesis of the virus having escaped from a laboratory was highly unlikely. They felt that the theory of an intermediate host between bats and humans was the most likely, and that the possible role in the spread and amplification of the virus of frozen foods and of markets like the one in Wuhan should also be considered. However, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00502-4">fundamental questions remain</a>: when, where and how did SARS-CoV-2 first infect humans?</p>
<p>In this context, it is worth noting that a recent <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-fur-farming-risk-assessment-2021.1">FAO-OIE-WHO report</a> also observed the existence of fur farms in Southeast Asia. Moreover, <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.26.428212v1">recent studies</a> in the region identified a betacoronavirus similar to SARS-CoV-2 in bats (<a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/19566/8978854"><em>Rhinolophus shameli</em></a>) captured and sampled in <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-2010-a-virus-similar-to-sars-cov-2-was-already-present-in-cambodia-154491">Cambodia in 2010</a>. Another betacoronavirus, also similar to SARS-CoV-2, was also isolated from a different bat species (<em>Rhinilophus cornutus</em>), this time in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03217-0#ref-CR1">Japan in 2013</a>.</p>
<p>This information prompts an expansion of the geographical zone within which spillover may have occurred via <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00531-z#ref-CR1">domestic animals</a> or wild species, either farmed or hunted and consumed, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3001115">including bats</a>. Indeed, in some parts of Southeast Asia, wild animal meat is commonly traded and consumed. In Cambodia in particular, pangolins, civets and raccoon dogs, which are particularly susceptible to infection by SARS-CoV-2, are <a href="https://cms.fauna-flora.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/FFI_2018_Exploring-Bushmeat-Consumption-Behaviours.pdf">some of the species concerned</a>.</p>
<p>As stressed by the WHO experts, this means that inter-species transmission may have been possible south of Wuhan, and potentially outside China, followed by amplification through Wuhan’s live-animal markets, which would therefore be a secondary cluster of the epidemic rather than the original focus.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was translated from the <a href="https://theconversation.com/origine-du-virus-de-la-covid-19-la-piste-de-lelevage-des-visons-153219">French original</a> by Helen Burford-Buttazzoni, Cirad.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/155989/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francois Roger has received funding from the European Union.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexis Delabouglise has received funding from the European Union.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Roche has received funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marisa Peyre has received funding from the European Union.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:veronique.chevalier@cirad.fr">veronique.chevalier@cirad.fr</a> has received funding from the French National Research Agency, Occitanie Region and Pasteur Asia Foundation </span></em></p>The virus responsible for Covid-19 can infect different species and scientists are still looking for the animal that provided the link. All eyes are turning to mink farming.François Roger, Directeur régional Asie du Sud-Est, vétérinaire et épidémiologiste, CiradAlexis Delabouglise, Researcher, socio-economist of animal health, CiradBenjamin Roche, Directeur de Recherche, Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD)Marisa Peyre, Deputy head of ASTRE research unit, epidemiologist, CiradVéronique Chevalier, CiradLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1484742020-11-06T13:53:56Z2020-11-06T13:53:56ZWhy COVID-era campaigns against wildmeat consumption aren’t working<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365778/original/file-20201027-22-18lx3e8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A newly-hunted wild boar is taken back to a village in Borneo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Hasan Thung</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 probably originated as a virus that jumped <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-scientists-know-the-coronavirus-came-from-bats-and-wasnt-made-in-a-lab-141850">from wild animals to humans</a>. So some conservation organisations have used the pandemic to campaign against the hunting and consumption of wildlife – and so to prevent future zoonotic disease transmission.</p>
<p>But our research with indigenous villagers in Indonesia has found that some of these recent anti-wildlife consumption campaigns miss a key point. Many villagers view COVID-19 as novel and modern, a problem associated with new ways of life, not their traditional hunting. For this reason, COVID-inspired anti-wildmeat messages have not convinced them, and are unlikely to succeed.</p>
<p>One of us (Paul Thung) has been doing fieldwork among indigenous Dayak people in the Indonesian side of the island of Borneo since late-2019. There, conservation organisations are attempting to dissuade rural communities from hunting and consuming wildlife like wild boar, deer, civets, porcupines or even orangutans. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364535/original/file-20201020-13-1gc2i8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Indonesian poster with cartoon caveman eating meat, described below." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364535/original/file-20201020-13-1gc2i8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364535/original/file-20201020-13-1gc2i8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364535/original/file-20201020-13-1gc2i8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364535/original/file-20201020-13-1gc2i8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364535/original/file-20201020-13-1gc2i8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364535/original/file-20201020-13-1gc2i8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364535/original/file-20201020-13-1gc2i8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Poster warning of the dangers of eating wildmeat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Hasan Thung</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The pictured poster is a good example. It starts with a warning about the coronavirus (“WATCH OUT for the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19)”), connects this to the general danger of zoonotic diseases (“Did you know there are many diseases that spread to humans through the consumption of wild animals? One of them is the CORONAVIRUS”), then concludes with a suggestion to stop consuming wildlife (“With all these risks, do you still want to eat wild animal meat?”).</p>
<p>Similar <a href="https://www.wildlifealliance.org/stopeatingwildlife/">examples</a> can be found elsewhere in Borneo and the world. </p>
<p>At present, there isn’t much information about the effects of COVID-related conservation campaigns on the ground. However – in parts of rural Borneo, at least – such messages are not working. On the contrary, both villagers and forest rangers in Paul’s fieldsites report that hunting has increased in recent months. To understand why, we need to examine local perceptions of COVID-19.</p>
<h2>COVID conversations</h2>
<p>During fieldwork, Paul participated in and recorded many conversations about the origins of the coronavirus. Strikingly, he found that the zoonosis argument – that COVID-19 originates from wildlife – was usually met with scepticism. Instead, his Dayak interlocutors often suggested that the novel coronavirus was more likely to have been created by humans – for example, by scientists developing a weapon for biological warfare.</p>
<p>It may be tempting to dismiss such claims as <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-are-dangerous-heres-how-to-stop-them-spreading-136564">conspiracy theories</a>. As anthropologists, however, we seek to understand the local logic on which they’re based. Doing so reveals some striking mismatches between conservationists’ zoonosis argument and rural Dayaks’ experiences and perceptions of COVID-19.</p>
<p>First, the zoonosis argument takes traditional Dayak <a href="https://www.kitlv.nl/nl/product/deadly-dances-in-the-bornean-rainforest-hunting-knowledge-of-the-penan-benalui/">practices</a> and turns them into a problem. It posits that wild animals, which Dayaks have hunted for centuries, contain many diseases that can harm people who eat them. </p>
<p>However, the conclusion that Dayaks should therefore stop hunting and consuming wildlife does not align with their long and seemingly unproblematic experience of eating wild animals. It is also at odds with their livelihoods, as wild meat is an important source of <a href="https://forestsnews.cifor.org/64855/covid-19-led-ban-on-wild-meat-could-take-protein-off-the-table-for-millions-of-forest-dwellers?fnl=en">protein and income</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365782/original/file-20201027-23-e5gn0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man chops some meat beside a river as a dog and chicken eye up the meat" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365782/original/file-20201027-23-e5gn0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/365782/original/file-20201027-23-e5gn0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365782/original/file-20201027-23-e5gn0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365782/original/file-20201027-23-e5gn0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365782/original/file-20201027-23-e5gn0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365782/original/file-20201027-23-e5gn0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/365782/original/file-20201027-23-e5gn0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Portioning out the catch after a hunting trip.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Hasan Thung</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Second, most villagers in this area view COVID-19 as a decidedly modern phenomenon, centred in urban and wealthier regions. Here, as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00141844.2020.1743337">elsewhere in Borneo</a>, people are highly aware of both the benefits and pitfalls of “progress” (<em>kemajuan</em>) and modernity. </p>
<p>Although everyone aspires to progress – to earn money, enjoy “modern” amenities and infrastructure – such changes are also seen to bring problems and risks. Transport infrastructure, for example, improves mobility for traders and travellers, but also invites excessive resource extraction, thieves and viruses. As someone said to Paul: “Corona travels by plane too.”</p>
<p>When the pandemic began, many rural Dayaks’ response was thus to turn towards tradition, not away from it. Many who had been working or studying in cities returned to their villages. </p>
<p>Physical work in the fields and forest, and eating natural foods (<em>makanan alami</em>) – including certain wild animals – were described as ways to boost one’s health. Among people Paul spoke to, it was widely argued that the virus, which seemed to thrive in cooler places and air-conditioned cities, would die outdoors under the sun. </p>
<h2>Changing conversations</h2>
<p>This failure of translation holds important lessons for conservationists. Crucially, it reminds us that conservation must be guided by local, on-the-ground knowledge and experiences. </p>
<p>Rather than only trying to educate others, conservationists must first educate themselves about specific local conditions and concerns. This means finding out what local people see as problems (COVID-19 as a modern, urban disease, for example) before working with them to find contextually-appropriate solutions.</p>
<p>In this case, conservationists might have been better off shifting their attention from the origin of COVID-19 to rural communities’ apprehensions about the (modern) conditions that enabled its spread. They could also have pinpointed ways of mitigating its knock-on effects such as economic hardship. </p>
<p>Such efforts would not have achieved the immediate goal of reducing wildlife hunting and consumption. But they could well have had a more productive long-term impact. </p>
<p>In rural Borneo, conservationists are sometimes said to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/454159b">care more about animals than humans</a>. People can spot opportunistic conservation campaigns from a mile away. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic, however, is an opportunity for conservationists to prove their commitment to local people’s wellbeing. Building long-term relations of trust and respect gives conservation a far greater chance of succeeding in the long run.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was adapted from a longer piece on <a href="https://pokokborneo.wordpress.com/2020/10/02/why-education-about-zoonotic-diseases-is-not-reducing-hunting-a-view-from-rural-borneo/">Pokok</a> – a blog about human-orangutan conflict in Borneo.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Hasan Thung receives funding from The Arcus Foundation</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liana Chua receives funding from the Arcus Foundation and the European Research Council (Starting Grant no. 758494).</span></em></p>Indigenous people in rural Borneo associate the coronavirus with modern life, not their traditional hunting.Paul Hasan Thung, PhD Student in Social Anthropology, Brunel University LondonLiana Chua, Reader in Anthropology, Brunel University LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1391322020-06-10T14:54:31Z2020-06-10T14:54:31ZWhy the world needs to ensure wild species are used sustainably<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339744/original/file-20200604-67347-w0mjuz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Woman selling baobab fibre mats in Zimbabwe. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rachel Wynberg</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a worldwide crisis of <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/will-covid-19-cause-another-food-crisis-early-review">food insecurity</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/07/covid-19-expected-to-to-wipe-out-67-of-worlds-working-hours">unemployment</a>. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns of rising <a href="https://blogs.imf.org/2020/04/14/the-great-lockdown-worst-economic-downturn-since-the-great-depression/">hunger and poverty</a>.</p>
<p>Commentators, particularly from the global North, have raised concerns about the implications for biodiversity. The first is that in some places, budgets for biodiversity conservation have been reduced by a drastic drop <a href="https://www.iied.org/despite-covid-19-using-wild-species-may-still-be-best-way-save-them">in tourism revenues</a>, or by the diversion of funds and forces to health-related <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/03/brazil-amazon-protection-coronavirus-fire-season">functions</a>. Secondly, growing poverty and the loss of livelihoods may drive <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-52294991">people to poach</a>. </p>
<p>Others are concerned that there will be increased habitat loss due to forest clearance for <a href="https://theconversation.com/natures-comeback-no-the-coronavirus-pandemic-threatens-the-worlds-wildlife-136209%20accessed%2024/04/2020">fuel-wood and subsistence agriculture</a>. There have been widespread calls for the banning of <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/wet-markets-breeding-ground-for-new-coronavirus-by-peter-singer-and-paola-cavalieri-2020-03">wet markets</a> and <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/how-to-prevent-the-next-covid-19-conservationists-weigh-in/">use of bushmeat</a>.</p>
<p>The global conservation community has correctly pointed to humankind’s destruction of biodiversity and ecosystems as a <a href="https://ipbes.net/covid19stimulus">cause of the pandemic</a>. We argue for a more nuanced approach. The use of wild species is not a new or unusual livelihood strategy, nor is it necessarily detrimental to conservation. <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2013/envdev1344.doc.htm">Over one billion people</a> across the world rely on such resources for food, medicines, fuel and building materials. </p>
<p>The uses of and trade in wild species include much more than <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/china-wet-markets-covid19-coronavirus-explained/">fuel-wood and illegal wildlife</a>. Our view is that the sustainable use of wild species needs to be recognised as a critical coping and resilience strategy. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339179/original/file-20200602-133910-42rv7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339179/original/file-20200602-133910-42rv7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339179/original/file-20200602-133910-42rv7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339179/original/file-20200602-133910-42rv7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339179/original/file-20200602-133910-42rv7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339179/original/file-20200602-133910-42rv7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339179/original/file-20200602-133910-42rv7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Medicinal herbs being sold in Namibia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rachel Wynberg</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Among other things, it provides people with access to their food, fuel, income, and medicine in circumstances where these are unavailable or unaffordable in the mainstream economy. Recognising the value of wild species will both support rural livelihoods and provide important incentives for their sustainable use.</p>
<h2>What we know</h2>
<p>Over 6% of rural households in South Africa (equating to approximately 320,000 households) <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800916315555">trade in at least one wild resource</a>, spanning fuelwood, medicinal plants, weaving fibres, wild foods (insects, fruits, indigenous vegetables, honey, bushmeat), grass and twig brushes, and crafts. The income from such trade equates to about R5,612 per rural household per year.</p>
<p>The use of biodiversity is also a critical buffer against economic shocks, disease and climate change. During the Sudanese war, for example, communities used and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X12001771">sold wild fruits as a coping strategy</a>.</p>
<p>In five southern African countries, over a third of surveyed households resorted to trading in wild foods, wood and medicinal products <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dpr.12261">because they lost their primary earning member</a> to disease. </p>
<p>In Zimbabwe, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203120880">baobab use and trade soared</a> in parallel to the collapse of the economy. </p>
<p>The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to increase people’s reliance on wild resources as a safety net. This will be particularly true for informal workers, who comprise <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/07/covid-19-expected-to-to-wipe-out-67-of-worlds-working-hours">three-fifths of the global workforce</a>.</p>
<h2>What can be done now</h2>
<p>Much of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1505/ifor.9.3.697">trade in wild species</a> occurs in informal markets that are not recognised by governments and remain poorly supported. However, informal and traditional markets in low and middle-income countries often provide buyers with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247819858019">economical, fresh and nutritious foods</a> that may not be available in supermarkets. </p>
<p>In the absence of organised representation, regulation and safety nets, informal markets are among the leading economies to suffer in the event of <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/covid-19-lockdowns-threaten-africas-vital-informal-urban-food-trade">disasters and economic shocks</a>. Already, informal vendors of vegetables and wild species have been attacked by the police in Zimbabwe for <a href="https://iharare.com/watch-police-confiscate-and-burn-vegetables-in-ruthless-enforcement-of-lockdown-after-3-am-raid/">contravening lockdown rules</a>.</p>
<p>Informal markets are, however, an opportunity. They could form the backbone of the pandemic response, given that they cater to densely populated informal settlements and rural communities that must <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-ensure-poor-people-in-africas-cities-can-still-get-food-during-lockdowns-136297">shelter in place</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339177/original/file-20200602-133902-u79mgb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339177/original/file-20200602-133902-u79mgb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339177/original/file-20200602-133902-u79mgb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339177/original/file-20200602-133902-u79mgb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339177/original/file-20200602-133902-u79mgb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339177/original/file-20200602-133902-u79mgb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339177/original/file-20200602-133902-u79mgb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mopane worms at a market in South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Sekonya</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than curbing the use and trade of wild species through informal and wet markets, governments could recognise trade based on sustainable use through necessary support measures. These could include decriminalising trade, allowing informal traders at strategically situated places at <a href="https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/agriculture/food-and-agriculture-during-a-pandemic-managing-the-consequences.html">staggered times</a>, and providing facilities for sanitation, shelter, storage, disposal bins, and lights. </p>
<h2>Looking towards the future</h2>
<p>The pandemic has spurred a move towards urban home gardening to attain a level of self-sufficiency in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/dining/victory-gardens-coronavirus.html">households across America</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-020-00150-8">Italy</a>, and <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/coronavirus-lockdown-pill-grow-your-own-vegetables/cid/1766386">India</a>. In South Africa, where low-income <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837714001501">housing greening is underway</a>, the domestication of commonly available and easily propagated wild species could be supported, contributing to people’s <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0230693">well-being and the local economy</a>.</p>
<p>Wild species use can help perpetuate the knowledge and values of biodiversity conservation and species propagation, as well as foster <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866717307586">long-term relationships</a> between people and their environment. For example, some people who <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605317001855">coexist with sea turtles</a> use their eggs in food preparations, and also protect them as vulnerable and valuable members of their community and identity.</p>
<p>In the future, this knowledge and continued use of wild species can act as an insurance against cataclysmic events. For example, in addition to being packed with micro-nutrients, <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/9/1569/htm">some wild species</a> such as wild medlars and leguminous plants need very little input to grow and withstand harsh weather conditions better than conventional crop food species.</p>
<p>Smallholder farmers tend to plant <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-simulated-how-a-modern-dust-bowl-would-impact-global-food-supplies-and-thsustainable%20e-result-is-devastating-133662">a diverse suite of plants</a> to reduce their chances of crop failure. Typically, wild species are an important component on such farms. Sustainable use of wild species from forests and on farms may <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0293-3">reduce people’s dependence</a> on food and material from other regions where they are mass-produced, often at a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956247819866124">high environmental and social cost</a>. </p>
<p>As global society emerges from the lockdown, we should look at sustainable biodiversity use as an opportunity to re-balance our relationship with nature.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlie Shackleton receives funding from National Research Foundation (South Africa) (grant no. 84379). This article is written in his personal capacity and does not represent the views of any of the NRF. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James George Sekonya has previously received funding from the National Research Foundation and the University of Cape Town. His contribution to this article is in his personal capacity and does not represent views of any organization. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Wynberg works for the University of Cape Town, South Africa where she holds a research chair funded by the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation. She serves on the Boards of Biowatch South Africa, Environmental Monitoring Group and the Union for Ethical BioTrade. This article is written in her personal capacity and does not represent the views of any of these organisations. No benefit will accrue to any organisation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mallika Sardeshpande does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the world deals with COVID-19, the sustainable use of wild species is a critical coping and resilience strategy.Mallika Sardeshpande, Senior research associate, Urban foodscapes and biodiversity, University of KwaZulu-NatalCharlie Shackleton, Professor & Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Science in Land and Natural Resource Use for Sustainable Livelihoods, Rhodes UniversityJames George Sekonya, PhD Researcher in Environmental & Geographical Sciences, University of Cape TownRachel Wynberg, Professor and DST/NRF Bio-economy Research Chair, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1387352020-05-26T09:06:46Z2020-05-26T09:06:46ZBanning bushmeat could make it harder to stop future pandemics<p>Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, eating the meat of wild animals has been getting a bad press. </p>
<p>Last month, more than 300 conservation groups signed an <a href="https://lioncoalition.org/2020/04/04/open-letter-to-world-health-organisation/">open letter</a> asking the World Health Organization (WHO) to take measures to prevent new diseases emerging from wild animals. This included banning the sale of wild animal meat, also known as bushmeat. The request stemmed from evidence that SARS-CoV-2 likely originated in a wild animal, probably a species of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2012-7">bat</a>, before jumping to an intermediate host, possibly a <a href="https://leelabvirus.host/covid19/origins-part1">pangolin</a>, and then infecting a human. </p>
<p>Although exactly where the first person picked up the virus is hotly contested, the media and researchers have focused on China’s wet markets, particularly those selling wild animals and their meat. At these markets, finding civet cats, turtles, bats and pangolins kept alive in small cages, often in close proximity, is not uncommon. In such conditions, wild animals can incubate diseases that later <a href="https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13002-020-00366-4">spill over into humans</a>.</p>
<p>In response, the Chinese government has issued a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/05/asia/china-coronavirus-wildlife-consumption-ban-intl-hnk/index.html">temporary ban on farming, selling and eating wild animals</a>, and many – including the United Nations biodiversity chief, <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/digest/un-biodiversity-chief-argues-for-a-permanent-ban-on-wildlife-markets">Elizabeth Maruma Mrema</a> – have urged Beijing to make this ban permanent.</p>
<p>But a truly successful ban on the sale of bushmeat in China may not even be possible. And if upheld, it could hinder rather than help the prevention of further pandemics. Here’s why.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335743/original/file-20200518-83352-1y4stx0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Live turtles on display at the Chaoyang wet market, Zhuhai, China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/logatfer/8246155604/in/photolist-dyFGLC-EbyMV3-9maYmj-6nMLYq-5kusCo-8oT4o1-53LNLR-9m7TS6-4VgC9j-bk9Cco-4VgCYw-WKevdD-94zyX-bqqbrW-bk9Ccw-ZPfXA-obCnjK-4Vcyjr-VvHHHx-9m7Twx-dWia1n-94zrR-6nHC4Z-aBF5gu-6nHCgi-ZPgam-2giy9dv-N6LyK-gBhuAk-5frnAQ-ZJQKX-29YPLtq-WFBrtf-EFGkvL-29fqdvH-k5nrPa-6nHAWx-WKeJLR-26uF16w-9cHme8-W9TR2L-9ow8db-9cHmNp-WxyaCB-Wxy9nv-9cHmyn-ejkYwQ-DzLTx1-NWDwJh-285XYFJ">David Boté Estrada/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Outlawing bushmeat is trickier than it looks</h2>
<p>Previously adopted behavioural change campaigns, policy lobbying and law enforcement have failed to reduce the consumption of wild animals over the past 10 years. And this is not only in <a href="https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/will-china-say-no-wildlife-trade">China</a>, but in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361730758X">West Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.cbd.int/sbstta/sbstta-21-wg8j-10/CIFOR-CBD-wildmeat-info-doc-review-en.pdf">South America</a> too.</p>
<p>Bushmeat is popular. Consumers believe that eating wild animals is <a href="https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/5506-Eating-habits-in-south-China-driving-endangered-animals-to-extinction-">normal, respectful of traditions, medicinal and even healthy</a>. Part of the problem in China specifically is that wild animal products form an integral part of <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reference/traditional-chinese-medicine/">traditional Chinese medicine and in supplementing diets</a>. </p>
<p>For some, bushmeat is consumed daily as the only accessible and affordable protein source. For others, it’s a luxury product, enjoyed to celebrate special occasions or to <a href="https://time.com/5770904/wuhan-coronavirus-wild-animals/">boost health</a>. In fact, the attraction of wet markets isn’t so different from that of farmers’ markets in western countries. </p>
<p>Because of bushmeat’s cultural value, taking away the choice to consume it permanently would probably be resisted. It would also likely encourage unregulated underground markets.</p>
<p>This happened in the West African Ebola outbreak in 2013-16, where <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361730758X">underground markets for bushmeat</a> began to appear <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156359/better-way-stop-coronaviruses">after it was banned</a>. And this is being seen during the temporary ban in China too, as some sellers have started dealing online instead. In February alone, 140,000 webpages and 17,000 online trader accounts relating to the sale of bushmeat or wild animal parts for medicinal use <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/illegal-wildlife-trade-online-china-shuts-markets-200324040543868.html">were removed, deleted or blocked by China’s State Council</a>. </p>
<p>The emergence of online markets <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/coronavirus-animals-china-vietnam-wildlife-ban-wet-markets-disease-pandemic-a9410236.html">increases the risk of further disease outbreaks</a> due to the increased and untraced movement of bushmeat across the country. The movement of wildlife meat is known to <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0029505">spread pathogens to new areas</a>. More needs to be done to stop this.</p>
<h2>How to reduce the danger of bushmeat</h2>
<p>Before any working long-term ban can be introduced, enforced and followed in China, there’s a lot that needs to happen. </p>
<p>The Chinese government and the WHO will need to develop policies and guidelines on the risks involved with collecting, handling and consuming bushmeat. They’ll also need to restrict the number of species allowed to be sold and consumed – and stick to this. The Chinese government <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(06)70676-4/fulltext">banned the consumption of civet cats</a> following the Sars outbreak, for instance, but later <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/01/china-bans-wildlife-trade-after-coronavirus-outbreak/">overturned the ban</a>. </p>
<p>Instead of a ban on all wildlife, the government could consider increasing regulations around the trade of certain species that pose the highest risk. It could also, <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156359/better-way-stop-coronaviruses">as some have suggested</a>, provide seeds for agriculture and fish for aquaculture, to lessen the reliance on bushmeat as a food source.</p>
<p>The government will also have to increase consumer education and food safety standards, and provide alternative livelihoods to hunters and market traders. </p>
<p>It will also be crucial to develop new surveillance systems that track, isolate and contain emerging infectious diseases in wild animals, before they have the opportunity to affect humans. Lessons can be learned from the PREDICT programme, run by the United States Agency for International Development, which used broad surveillance to hunt for dangerous pathogens in animals. Between 2009 and 2019, it collected over 140,000 biological samples from animals, finding over 1,000 new viruses, <a href="https://ohi.sf.ucdavis.edu/what-weve-found">including a new strain of Ebola</a>.</p>
<p>But most importantly, authorities will have to understand the role of bushmeat in local contexts, specifically the practices and behaviours around its collection and consumption. They will then need to design tailored interventions that can reduce communities’ reliance on wild animal products. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosntds/article?id=10.1371/journal.pntd.0005450">researchers studying the socioeconomics of bushmeat during the 2013-16 Ebola epidemic</a> found that to lessen reliance on it, we should concentrate on improving jobs and access to quality protein sources, rather than focus on the meat itself.</p>
<p>If we are to successfully reduce the risk of further pandemics, we must therefore acknowledge the importance of the social dynamics of wild animal consumption.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alex Bowmer receives funding from the UK’s National Institute for Health Research. </span></em></p>A full ban on eating wildlife in China probably isn’t possible, and could encourage unregulated underground markets.Alex Bowmer, Research Fellow in Medical Anthropology, London School of Hygiene & Tropical MedicineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1366572020-05-18T01:19:02Z2020-05-18T01:19:02ZBushmeat could cause the next global pandemic<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330076/original/file-20200423-47820-1blyjr1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mona monkeys are among the many species often hunted for food.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neja Hrovat / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Using the tip of my boot, I pushed the charred and blackened hand back into the fire and watched as vivid flames engulfed the limb, along with the smouldering forms of other primates, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/ungulate">ungulates</a>, bats, pangolins and a whole host of other species of endangered, legally protected and potentially deadly wildlife. I was present at one of the very first large-scale confiscations of <a href="https://frontpageafricaonline.com/news/fda-burns-large-consignment-of-confiscated-bushmeat/">bushmeat in Liberia</a>, West Africa, where the animal remains were being burned to prevent them from entering food markets both locally and further afield.</p>
<p>As an academic who has worked with primate pathogens and the bushmeat trade through field and laboratory work, I know there is a very real risk of humans catching animal diseases from contaminated meat. So while I am grimly reassured efforts are at least being made to help the conservation of these species, I am nevertheless left fearing the very real implications of humans eating them. </p>
<p>And here we are, just 18 months later, in the middle of the most widespread pandemic the world has ever seen. There is, of course, some debate about which government response is best, how to most effectively treat patients, and the long-term economic repercussions. But what cannot be debated is that a global pandemic of this magnitude had in fact been anticipated by many.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330078/original/file-20200423-47820-1cls4v1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330078/original/file-20200423-47820-1cls4v1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330078/original/file-20200423-47820-1cls4v1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330078/original/file-20200423-47820-1cls4v1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330078/original/file-20200423-47820-1cls4v1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=801&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330078/original/file-20200423-47820-1cls4v1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330078/original/file-20200423-47820-1cls4v1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330078/original/file-20200423-47820-1cls4v1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1006&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The bushmeat fire in Liberia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ben Garrod</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For decades, academics have been teaching it, researchers have been investigating it, and public health NGOs have been trying to prepare for it. In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) compiled a <a href="https://www.who.int/medicines/ebola-treatment/WHO-list-of-top-emerging-diseases/en/">list of emerging diseases</a>, which are “likely to cause severe outbreaks in the near future”. Each disease on that ominous list is “zoonotic”, meaning they originate in non-human animals but either have the potential to jump from them to us or have already done so. </p>
<p>Some of the most widely recognised and widely feared diseases started off in other species. Salmonella, influenza, Lyme disease and tuberculosis are all zoonotic, along with anthrax, HIV, SARs, MERs, Ebola and COVID-19. The study of such zoonotic pathogens is rarely straightforward and investigating even relatively simple aspects of these diseases can require costly, time-consuming and complex epidemiology. </p>
<p>The search for the original source of Ebola, for example, began back in the 1990s. Yet despite a team successfully identifying in 2018 that the <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/01/bat-species-may-be-source-ebola-epidemic-killed-more-11000-people-west-africa">greater long-fingered bat</a> is an important vector for the strain known as Ebola Zaire, scientists are still not certain whether these bats actually are the original hosts for the disease. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330077/original/file-20200423-47847-ie22mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330077/original/file-20200423-47847-ie22mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/330077/original/file-20200423-47847-ie22mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330077/original/file-20200423-47847-ie22mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330077/original/file-20200423-47847-ie22mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330077/original/file-20200423-47847-ie22mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330077/original/file-20200423-47847-ie22mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/330077/original/file-20200423-47847-ie22mf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bushmeat on sale on the roadside in Liberia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue and Protection</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The WHO states that zoonoses account for not only 60% of diseases found in humans but represent 75% of all <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1038/emi.2015.33">emerging infectious diseases</a>. It is likely that the risk is getting more severe: in addition to increased habitat destruction creating a <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/parasitology/fulltext/S1471-4922(19)30061-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1471492219300613%3Fshowall%3Dtrue">rise in emerging zoonotic infections/diseases</a>, these days bushmeat is being transported all around the world.</p>
<p>While there are arguments over how <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-a-blanket-ban-on-wildlife-trade-would-not-be-the-right-response-135746">legitimate and effective</a> a global ban on wildlife markets would be, it is clear that if we are to understand and minimise the risks of further global zoonotic pandemics, then the unsustainable and illegal trade <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-has-finally-made-us-recognise-the-illegal-wildlife-trade-is-a-public-health-issue-133673">must be addressed</a>. </p>
<h2>A global problem</h2>
<p>For those relying on subsistence hunting in countries such as Liberia, there has been some progress. Community development projects and programmes have been introduced, aimed at developing more sustainable and safer sources of protein, such as <a href="http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2018;volume=16;issue=4;spage=441;epage=458;aulast=Wicander">cane rat farming, fish farming or raising livestock</a>. </p>
<p>It becomes much more difficult, however, when this “wild meat” (or bushmeat) is shipped either nationally or internationally. Combining the potential for zoonotic diseases, poorly-cooked or preserved meat and its subsequent global distribution creates a recipe for disaster. While this most recent coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China, the illegal global trade makes it equally possible that that the next global pandemic could start in Washington or Westminster. </p>
<p>In 2010, research conducted at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris concluded that more than <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00121.x">five tonnes of illegal meat</a> arrived at this one airport each week, a staggering 270 tonnes annually. Another study focused on JFK airport in New York and found that over a four-year period, meat from green monkeys, mangabeys, baboons and even chimpanzees was confiscated, some of which was later identified to be <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3254615/">harbouring zoonoses</a> with the potential to infect humans. </p>
<p>The UK is similarly affected. A 2012 report identified bushmeat for sale in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-19622903">several London markets</a> and nearly 100 tonnes of product of animal origin, which ranges from poor quality livestock meat right through to illegal bushmeat, is <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464741/animal-product-review-2012-14-web.pdf">seized coming into the UK each year</a>. While some of this might be food being brought in legitimately, problems can arise in identifying that food coming into the country is both safe and, more fundamentally, is what it is claimed to be. </p>
<p>This is a hugely complex problem. Researchers and government agencies must work alongside traders and consumers to better understand why people want bushmeat and educate those at greatest risk from eating infected meat.</p>
<p>Social and cultural sensitivity is paramount, but clear breaches of the law need to be enforced if we are to help stop the emergence of the next global zoonotic pandemic. It is time for governments, commercial airline companies and border force agencies to increase their protection of us, from what might be the greatest threat we ever face as a species.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Garrod does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Illegal wild animal meat is found in cities right across the world and poses a very real threat of infecting people.Ben Garrod, Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1333332020-03-31T18:57:33Z2020-03-31T18:57:33ZThe new coronavirus emerged from the global wildlife trade – and may be devastating enough to end it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324107/original/file-20200330-159117-1cfmuis.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C2456%2C1648&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Government officers seize civets in a wildlife market in Guangzhou, China to prevent the spread of SARS in 2004.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/guangzhou-government-officers-seize-civet-cats-in-xinyuan-news-photo/1124783111?adppopup=true">Dustin Shum/South China Morning Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>COVID-19 is one of countless emerging infectious diseases that are zoonotic, meaning they originate in animals. <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003257">About 75% of emerging infectious diseases</a> are zoonotic, accounting for billions of illnesses and <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/global-infections-by-the-numbers/">millions of deaths annually</a> across the globe. </p>
<p>When these diseases spill over to humans, the cause frequently is human behaviors, including habitat destruction and the multibillion-dollar international wildlife trade – the latter being the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9">suspected source of the novel coronavirus</a>. </p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to impose severe restrictions, such as social distancing, that will have massive economic costs. But there has been less discussion about identifying and changing behaviors that contribute to the emergence of zoonotic diseases. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=89PvLp0AAAAJ&hl=en">conservation biologist</a>, I believe this outbreak demonstrates the urgent need to end the global wildlife trade.</p>
<h2>Markets for disease</h2>
<p>As many Americans now know, the COVID-19 coronavirus is one of a family of coronaviruses <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-wrong-to-blame-bats-for-the-coronavirus-epidemic-134300">commonly found in bats</a>. It is suspected to have passed through a mammal, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.0c00129">perhaps pangolins</a> – the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47200816">most-trafficked animal</a> on the planet – before jumping to humans. </p>
<p>The virus’s spillover to humans is believed to have occurred in a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-it-all-started-chinas-early-coronavirus-missteps-11583508932">so-called wet market</a> in China. At these markets, live, wild-caught animals, farm-raised wild species and livestock frequently intermingle in conditions that are unsanitary and highly stressful for the animals. These circumstances are ripe for infection and spillover. </p>
<p>The current outbreak is just the latest example of viruses jumping from animals to humans. HIV is perhaps the most infamous example: It <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0802203105">originated from chimps in central Africa</a> and still <a href="https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet">kills hundreds of thousands of people</a> annually. It likely jumped to humans through consumption of <a href="https://www.fws.gov/international/wildlife-without-borders/global-program/bushmeat.html">bushmeat</a>, or meat from wildlife, which is also the likely origin of <a href="https://theconversation.com/take-bushmeat-off-the-menu-before-humans-are-served-another-ebola-32914">several Ebola oubreaks</a>. <a href="https://www.ecohealthalliance.org/program/predict">PREDICT</a>, a U.S.-funded nonprofit, suggests there are <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-so-many-epidemics-originate-in-asia-and-africa-and-why-we-can-expect-more-131657">thousands of viral species</a> circulating in birds and mammals that pose a direct risk to humans.</p>
<h2>Decimating wildlife and humans</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324136/original/file-20200330-165012-r46edk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324136/original/file-20200330-165012-r46edk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324136/original/file-20200330-165012-r46edk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324136/original/file-20200330-165012-r46edk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324136/original/file-20200330-165012-r46edk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324136/original/file-20200330-165012-r46edk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324136/original/file-20200330-165012-r46edk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324136/original/file-20200330-165012-r46edk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Coat made of pangolin scales, on display at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. The coat was given to King George III in 1820, along with a helmet also made with pangolin scales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Coat_of_Pangolin_scales.JPG">Gaius Cornelius/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trade in wildlife has decimated populations and species for millennia and is one of the <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/">five key drivers of wildlife declines</a>. People hunt and deal in animals and animal parts for food, medicine and other uses. This commerce has an estimated value of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abb6463">US$18 billion annually just in China</a>, which is believed to be the largest market globally for such products.</p>
<p>My own work focuses on African and Asian elephants, which are severely threatened by the wildlife trade. Demand for elephant ivory has caused the deaths of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1403984111">more than 100,000 elephants</a> in the last 15 years. </p>
<p>Conservationists have been working for years to end the wildlife trade or enforce strict regulations to ensure that it is conducted in ways that <a href="https://www.iucn.org/theme/species/our-work/sustainable-use-and-trade">do not threaten species’ survival</a>. Initially, the focus was on stemming the decline of threatened species. But today it is evident that this trade also harms humans. </p>
<p>For example, conservation organizations estimate that more than 100 rangers <a href="https://globalconservation.org/news/over-one-thousand-park-rangers-die-10-years-protecting-our-parks/">are killed protecting wildlife every year</a>, often by poachers and armed militias targeting high-value species such as rhinos and elephants. Violence associated with the wildlife trade <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL34395.pdf">affects local communities</a>, which typically are poor and rural. </p>
<p>The wildlife trade’s disease implications have received less popular attention over the past decade. This may be because bushmeat trade and consumption targets less-charismatic species, provides a key protein source in some communities and is a driver of economic activity in some remote rural areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324130/original/file-20200330-166436-p8b095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324130/original/file-20200330-166436-p8b095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324130/original/file-20200330-166436-p8b095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324130/original/file-20200330-166436-p8b095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324130/original/file-20200330-166436-p8b095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324130/original/file-20200330-166436-p8b095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324130/original/file-20200330-166436-p8b095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324130/original/file-20200330-166436-p8b095.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smuggled leopard skin and ivory seized at New Orleans International Airport, Feb. 17, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/SK5zPU">USFWS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Will China follow through?</h2>
<p>In China, wild animal sales and consumption are deeply embedded culturally and represent an influential economic sector. Chinese authorities see them as a key revenue generator for impoverished rural communities, and have promoted national policies that <a href="https://theasiadialogue.com/2020/03/12/the-covid-19-epidemic-and-chinas-wildlife-business-interest/">encourage the trade despite its risks</a>. </p>
<p>In 2002-2003, severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS – a disease caused by a zoonotic coronavirus transmitted through live wildlife markets – emerged in China and <a href="https://www.who.int/ith/diseases/sars/en/">spread to 26 countries</a>. Then as now, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/d41586-017-07766-9">bats were a likely source</a>. </p>
<p>In response, the Chinese government enacted strict regulations designed to end wildlife trade and its associated risks. But policies later were weakened under cultural and economic pressure.</p>
<p>Now repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic are driving faster, stronger reforms. China has announced a <a href="https://apnews.com/d59f43a911996a729cdf8636f5aa4ce4">temporary ban on all wildlife trade</a> and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/science/coronavirus-pangolin-wildlife-ban-china.html">permanent ban on wildlife trade for food</a>. Vietnam’s prime minister has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/18/billion-dollar-wildlife-industry-in-vietnam-under-assault-as-law-drafted-to-halt-trading">proposed a similar ban</a>, and other neighboring countries are under pressure to follow this lead. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324104/original/file-20200330-174736-1k8tqxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C0%2C5000%2C3323&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324104/original/file-20200330-174736-1k8tqxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C0%2C5000%2C3323&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/324104/original/file-20200330-174736-1k8tqxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324104/original/file-20200330-174736-1k8tqxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324104/original/file-20200330-174736-1k8tqxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324104/original/file-20200330-174736-1k8tqxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324104/original/file-20200330-174736-1k8tqxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/324104/original/file-20200330-174736-1k8tqxs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Propaganda poster in Beijing reinforcing wildlife market crackdowns, March 11, 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-China/56a820cc73ab442ba4d7d4671f1c28a3/4/0">AP Photo/Andy Wong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Conservation scientists are hearing rumors that wildlife markets on China’s borders – which often sell endangered species whose sale is banned within China – are collapsing as the spread of coronavirus cuts into tourism and related commerce. Similarly, there are reports that in Africa, trade in pangolin and other wildlife products <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/20200316-pangolin-sales-plunge-in-gabon-over-coronavirus-fears">is shrinking</a> in response to coronavirus fears.</p>
<p>However, I worry that these changes won’t last. The Chinese government has already stated that its initial bans on <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reference/traditional-chinese-medicine/">medicinal wildlife products</a> and wildlife products for non-consumption are temporary and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.abb6463">will be relaxed in the future</a>.</p>
<p>This is not sufficient. In my view, terminating the damaging and dangerous trade in wildlife will require concerted global pressure on the governments that allow it, plus internal campaigns to help end the demand that drives such trade. Without cultural change, the likely outcomes will be relaxed bans or an expansion of <a href="https://www.fws.gov/international/wildlife-trafficking/">illegal wildlife trafficking</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QKmi7omu4aI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Basketball star Yao Ming has campaigned for over a decade to dissuade Chinese consumers from buying wildlife products.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Africa has borne the greatest costs from the illegal wildlife trade, which has ravaged its natural resources and fueled insecurity. A pandemic-driven global recession and cessation of tourism will drastically reduce income in wildlife-related industries. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01713.x">Poaching will likely increase</a>, potentially for international trade, but also for local bushmeat markets. And falling tourism revenues will undercut local support for protecting wild animals.</p>
<p>On top of this, if COVID-19 spreads across the continent, Africa could also suffer major losses of human life from a pandemic that could have started in an illegally traded African pangolin. </p>
<p>Like other disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity to implement solutions that will ultimately benefit humans and the planet. I hope one result is that nations join together to end the costly trade and consumption of wildlife.</p>
<p>[<em>You need to understand the coronavirus pandemic, and we can help.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-help">Read our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Wittemyer receives funding from the USDA for work on disease ecology in wildlife. He is the Chairman of the Scientific Board of the Kenyan based NGO Save the Elephants. </span></em></p>Wild animals and animal parts are bought and sold worldwide, often illegally. This multibillion-dollar industry is pushing species to extinction, fueling crime and spreading disease.George Wittemyer, Associate professor of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1316572020-03-04T11:58:41Z2020-03-04T11:58:41ZWhy so many epidemics originate in Asia and Africa – and why we can expect more<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316101/original/file-20200219-11023-15palj3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3982%2C2556&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On Feb. 18, 2020, in Seoul, South Korea, people wearing face masks pass an electric screen warning about COVID-19. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/South-Korea-China-Outbreak/cb79407a56854d69b3c3565bbc067f74/9/0">AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The coronavirus disease, known as <a href="https://theconversation.com/naming-the-new-coronavirus-why-taking-wuhan-out-of-the-picture-matters-131738">COVID-19</a>, is a frightening reminder of the imminent global threat posed by emerging infectious diseases. Although epidemics have arisen during all of human history, they now seem to be on the rise. In just the past 20 years, coronaviruses alone have caused three major outbreaks worldwide. Even more troubling, the duration between these three pandemics has gotten shorter.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://vbs.psu.edu/directory/svk11">virologist</a> and associate director of the <a href="https://vbs.psu.edu/adl">Animal Diagnostic Laboratory at Penn State University</a>, and my <a href="https://vbs.psu.edu/research/labs/kuchipudi">laboratory</a> studies zoonotic viruses, those that jump from animals and infect people. Most of the pandemics have at least one thing in common: They began their deadly work in Asia or Africa. The reasons why may surprise you.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316103/original/file-20200219-11005-r8mei0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316103/original/file-20200219-11005-r8mei0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316103/original/file-20200219-11005-r8mei0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316103/original/file-20200219-11005-r8mei0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316103/original/file-20200219-11005-r8mei0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316103/original/file-20200219-11005-r8mei0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316103/original/file-20200219-11005-r8mei0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shoppers in face masks as they line up at a grocery store in Wuhan, a city of 11 million, in central China’s Hubei Province. The urbanization of once densely forested areas of Asia and Africa have contributed to the spread of these deadly viruses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/China-Outbreak-Leaving-Wuhan/8cc09d14dcc744f4b227285527d13ae9/14/0">AP Photo / Arek Rataj</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Population explosion and changing urban landscapes</h2>
<p>An unprecedented shift in human population is one reason why more diseases originate in Asia and Africa. Rapid urbanization is happening throughout Asia and the Pacific regions, where <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13685530500088472">60%</a> of the world already lives. According to the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Publications/Urban%20Development/EAP_Urban_Expansion_full_report_web.pdf">World Bank</a>, almost 200 million people moved to urban areas in East Asia during the first decade of the 21st century. To put that into perspective, 200 million people could form the eighth most populous country in the world. </p>
<p>Migration on that scale means forest land is destroyed to create residential areas. Wild animals, forced to move closer to cities and towns, inevitably encounter domestic animals and the human population. Wild animals often harbor viruses; <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/20/807742861/new-research-bats-harbor-hundreds-of-coronaviruses-and-spillovers-arent-rare">bats, for instance, can carry hundreds</a> of them. And <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-clue-to-stopping-coronavirus-knowing-how-viruses-adapt-from-animals-to-humans-130790">viruses, jumping species to species</a>, can ultimately infect people. </p>
<p>Eventually, extreme urbanization becomes a vicious cycle: More people bring more deforestation, and human expansion and the loss of habitat ultimately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/news.2009.20">kills off predators</a>, including those that feed off rodents. With the predators gone – or at least with their numbers sharply diminished – the rodent population explodes. And <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1404958111">as studies in Africa show</a>, so does the risk of zoonotic disease. </p>
<p>The situation is only likely to get worse. A major proportion of East Asia’s population still lives in rural areas. Urbanization is expected to continue for decades. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316105/original/file-20200219-11023-mjbb91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316105/original/file-20200219-11023-mjbb91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316105/original/file-20200219-11023-mjbb91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316105/original/file-20200219-11023-mjbb91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316105/original/file-20200219-11023-mjbb91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316105/original/file-20200219-11023-mjbb91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316105/original/file-20200219-11023-mjbb91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A family farm in Zambia. Disease in livestock is common, an easy way for pathogens to transfer from animals to people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/general-view-from-the-farm-owned-by-linah-and-godfrey-news-photo/1200189322?adppopup=true">Getty Images / Guillem Sartorio / AFP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Subsistence agriculture and animal markets</h2>
<p>Tropical regions, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68228-0_1">rich in host biodiversity</a>, already hold a large pool of pathogens, greatly increasing the chance that a novel pathogen will emerge. The farming system throughout Africa and Asia doesn’t help. </p>
<p>On both continents, many families depend on <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2018/04/28/africa-has-plenty-of-land-why-is-it-so-hard-to-make-a-living-from-it">subsistence farming</a> and a minuscule supply of livestock. Disease control, feed supplementation and housing for those animals is extremely limited. Cattle, chickens and pigs, which can <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1098%2Frstb.2009.0133">carry endemic disease</a>, are often in close contact with each other, a variety of nondomestic animals and humans.</p>
<p>And not just on the farms: <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/01/22/798644707/why-wet-markets-persisted-in-china-despite-disease-and-hygiene-concerns">Live animal markets</a>, commonplace throughout Asia and Africa, feature crowded conditions and the intimate mixing of multiple species, including humans. This too plays a key role in how a killer pathogen could emerge and spread between species. </p>
<p>Another risk: <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36457637">bushmeat hunting</a> and butchering, which is particularly widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. These activities, as they threaten animal species and irrevocably <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.160498">change ecosystems</a>, also bring people and wild animals together. Bushmeat hunting is <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10393-014-0942-y">a clear and primary path</a> for zoonotic disease transmission. </p>
<p>So is <a href="https://nccih.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/chinesemed.htm">traditional Chinese medicine</a>, which purports to provide remedies for a host of conditions like arthritis, epilepsy and erectile dysfunction. Although no scientific evidence exists to support most of the claims, Asia is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.13">an enormous consumer</a> of traditional Chinese medicine products. Tigers, bears, rhinos, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/20/coronavirus-link-or-not-its-time-crack-down-illegal-animal-trade/">pangolins</a> and other animal species are poached so their body parts can be mixed into these questionable medications. This, too, is a major contributor to increasing animal-human interactions. What’s more, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-tcm/as-china-pushes-traditional-medicine-globally-illegal-wildlife-trade-flourishes-idUSKCN1R90D5">demand is likely to go up</a>, as online marketing soars along with Asia’s relentless economic growth. </p>
<h2>A matter of time</h2>
<p>The viruses, thousands of them, continue to evolve. It’s just a matter of time before another major outbreak occurs in this region of the world. <a href="https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/coronaviruses">All the coronaviruses</a> that caused recent epidemics, including the COVID-19, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html">jumped from bats</a> to another animal before infecting humans. It’s difficult to predict precisely what chain of events cause a pandemic, but one thing is certain: these risks can be mitigated by developing strategies to minimize human effects which contribute to the ecological disturbances. </p>
<p>As the current outbreak has shown, an infectious disease that starts in one part of the world can spread globally in virtually no time whatsoever. There is an urgent need for constructive conservation strategies to prevent deforestation and reduce animal-human interactions. And a comprehensive global surveillance system to monitor the emergence of these diseases – now missing – would be an indispensable tool in helping us fight these deadly and terrifying epidemics. </p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suresh V Kuchipudi receives funding from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) </span></em></p>COVID-19 is not the first – nor likely the last – to emerge from the two continents.Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Clinical Professor and Associate Director of Animal Diagnostic Laboratory, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1304842020-01-24T16:08:41Z2020-01-24T16:08:41ZCoronavirus: we still haven’t learned the lessons from Sars<p>The Sars outbreak in 2002-2003 was the first global pandemic of the 21st century. There were <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16978751">8,422 reported cases</a> and 11% of those infected with the virus died. Its cause was a newly identified coronavirus (a type of virus that causes respiratory infections): Sars Co-V. Early cases were linked to wildlife markets and restaurants in Guangdong, China, where researchers found Sars-like coronaviruses in animals including <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4d6d/ccdd8efb120e335847d078b137b30d765639.pdf">masked palm civets and a racoon dog</a>.</p>
<p>A Chinese government team subsequently reported that 66 out of 508 wildlife handlers tested in other markets across Guangdong were positive for antibodies to the Sars <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rstb.2004.1492">virus</a>. The Chinese authorities responded by imposing a temporary ban on the hunting, sale, transportation and export of all wild animals in southern China. They also quarantined or culled civets reared for human consumption in the many civet farms across the area. </p>
<p>We happened to be working on wildlife trade and biodiversity conservation, including rare species of civets in neighbouring Vietnam, and were aware that many different species of animal were kept close to each other. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I suggested that civets testing positive for Sars may have secondary infections rather being than the source of the virus. They were probably infected during the “speed dating” of zoonotic viruses circulating among the jumble of different animal species packed together at markets or while being transported to markets, often in China. </p>
<p>At the Royal Society’s international conference on “Lessons from SARS” in 2004 and in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rstb.2004.1492">related publication</a>, we emphasised that wildlife trade was a threat to human health and a primary cause of biodiversity decline in China and South-East Asia. </p>
<p>But here we are again, 17 years later, with another <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-be-worried-about-the-new-wuhan-coronavirus-130366">novel zoonotic coronavirus</a>, this time in Wuhan, China. Once again, initial human cases were <a href="https://www.who.int/csr/don/12-january-2020-novel-coronavirus-china/en/">linked to a market</a> selling a variety of live animals.</p>
<p>A constantly changing range of species <a href="https://promedmail.org/">have been selected</a> as the culprits in the past few days, including bats and snakes, (the latter results were quickly refuted), and even crickets and wolf cubs.</p>
<p>But, as yet, there is no scientific evidence that the virus has been isolated from any of these, although a <a href="https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2020/01/ccdc-weekly-outbreak-of-ncip-2019-ncov.html">recent report</a> stated that “15 environmental specimens collected in the western section (of the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market) were positive for 2019-nCoV virus through RT-PCR testing and genetic sequencing analysis.” The report continues: “Despite extensive searching, no animal from the market has thus far been identified as a possible source of infection.”</p>
<p>It is not evident what “environmental specimens” refers to here and a complete list of those animals present in, or available from, the market would be appropriate to release together with details of which and how many of these have so far been tested. </p>
<p>Wild rodents, which are often present in these markets, should also have been collected and tested as Sars-like coronaviruses have also been isolated from wild rats in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1693398/pdf/15306397.pdf">China</a>. </p>
<h2>Perfect conditions for pandemics</h2>
<p>But we may be chasing our tails, as animals testing positive may not be the source of the current outbreak. We need to step back and learn the broader lessons here. </p>
<p>The perfect conditions for the emergence of human pandemics from previously unknown zoonotic pathogens has been created as a result of three things. First, the shift from subsistence hunting of wildlife to its sale into an international trade network largely driven by demand in China. Second, the extensive cross-exposure within this wildlife trade of species and species populations, which would not mix or be in contact in the wild. And, third, the exploitation of new source populations as areas become depleted of target species.</p>
<p>It is also important to emphasise that these wild animals are typically now more expensive to buy (sometime a status symbol) than domestic livestock, so the demand that perpetuates wildlife trade in the region is a dietary choice and not driven by <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rstb.2004.1492">low income</a>.</p>
<p>The solution is collective action to remove the demand and also the supply chains to these wildlife markets and “farms” (often laundering animals from the wild rather than breeding them). The call to close wildlife markets across China – which started following the Sars outbreak – has also been echoed by experts in China and in external organisations worldwide, such as the <a href="https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/13738/WCS-Calls-for-Closing-Live-Animal-Markets-that-Trade-in-Wildlife-in-Wake-of-Wuhan-Coronavirus-Outbreak.aspx">Wildlife Conservation Society</a>.</p>
<p>We have to hope that the Wuhan outbreak is a wake-up call for regulation of wildlife trade and animal health, action that is urgently needed to protect human health and the environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130484/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diana Bell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Wildlife trade is a threat to human health.Diana Bell, Professor of Conservation Biology, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1247462019-10-14T13:25:52Z2019-10-14T13:25:52ZAnimals are disappearing from forests, with grave consequences for the fight against climate breakdown – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296859/original/file-20191014-135517-11rerph.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C6%2C3785%2C2468&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A toucan eating a fruit in the tropical wetlands of the Pantanal, Brazil.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/tucan-eating-fruit-pantanal-brazil-498449035?src=N7RSSEyW4LynY_W5NEQIOw-1-88">Uwe Bergwitz/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s tempting to think that our forests would be fine if we could simply stop trees being felled <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-amazon-fire-crisis-has-been-500-years-in-the-making-as-brazils-indigenous-people-know-only-too-well-122572">or burnt</a>. But forests – particularly tropical ones – are more than just trees. They’re also the animals that skulk and swoop among them.</p>
<p>Worryingly, these furry and feathered companions are <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2018-10/wwfintl_livingplanet_full.pdf">rapidly disappearing</a> – and <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12539-1">our new research</a> indicates that this will have grave repercussions for the role forests play in combating climate breakdown. </p>
<p>Healthy tropical forests swarm with life. Beyond myriad invertebrates there are seed-eating rodents, a range of leaf eaters, birds of all kinds, and often primates. However, <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-08/BelowTheCanopyReport.pdf">many forests have already lost most of their largest animals</a>, mainly as a result of hunting to supply a growing <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.160498">bushmeat</a> trade.</p>
<p>Hunting isn’t the only reason. Thanks to deforestation for farmland and logging, many forests today are highly fragmented. The small, unconnected patches that remain <a href="https://theconversation.com/worlds-forests-are-fragmenting-into-tiny-patches-risking-mass-extinctions-39029">aren’t big enough</a> to support populations of the largest species, which tend to need more space.</p>
<p>The disappearance of animals from otherwise intact habitats is known as <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6195/401">defaunation</a>, and it is leading to a growing number of <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000247">empty forests</a> not just in tropical countries, but around the world. The UK has already lost most of its largest species (<a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/extinct-british-wildlife">think lynx, wolf, and wisent</a>), while woodland bird numbers have <a href="https://nbn.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/State-of-Nature-2019-UK-full-report.pdf">declined by a quarter since 1970</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/top-five-threats-to-uks-wildlife-and-what-to-do-about-them-new-report-124670">Top five threats to UK's wildlife (and what to do about them) – new report</a>
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<p>The impacts of this defaunation have attracted the attention of the world’s conservation scientists, but studies to date have usually been carried out at single locations. Consequently, we lack a worldwide picture that takes into account different types of forest and the diversity of animals that are disappearing.</p>
<p>To fill this gap, we worked with <a href="https://blogs.wwf.org.uk/biographies/will-baldwin-cantello/">William Baldwin-Cantello</a>, chief adviser on forests at the World Wide Fund for Nature UK, to gather together all the existing research and perform a meta-analysis – an analysis of analyses – on the available data.</p>
<h2>Forest flora need flourishing fauna</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12539-1">Our findings</a> reveal a worrying trend. The loss of animals compromises the ability of forests to reproduce. This effect is particularly severe when primates and birds disappear, because of the key role they play in seed dispersal. Trees make fruit to entice animals to transport their seeds, because they are more likely to germinate and grow successfully if they <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8FMp5A63F4">fall further from their parent tree</a>. So when fruit-eating animals disappear, fewer seeds are dispersed and the trees struggle to reproduce.</p>
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<span class="caption">A black howler monkey eating a juicy cashew fruit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/black-howler-monkey-eating-cashew-fruit-665806396">akramer/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This animal absence will slowly change how forests look. Most tropical forests today are dominated by trees whose seeds are dispersed by animals. Over time, they are likely to be gradually replaced by trees that use the wind to reproduce. Naturally, these usually have small seeds, and therefore produce <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12626">smaller trees that store less carbon</a> for the same area of forest. As a result, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/4/892">forests will store less and less carbon</a>, even if we completely halt deforestation.</p>
<p>This is particularly concerning because roughly 20% of the carbon dioxide we emit is absorbed by the world’s vegetation and soils, and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/114/44/11645.full.pdf">half of this</a> is due to tropical forests alone.</p>
<h2>Rethinking forest health</h2>
<p>Conserving forests is essential for the fight against climate breakdown – and, we do have a global tool at our disposal to help. Known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation, or <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-a-carbon-deal-on-rainforests-and-we-have-one-16467">REDD+</a> for short, it allows wealthy countries with large carbon footprints to pay poorer, tropical countries to protect their forests.</p>
<p>Of course, REDD+ is only an effective tool if the forests countries pay to protect continue to store the same amount of carbon. We usually monitor this by taking satellite images of the quantity of forest canopy remaining. But what satellite imagery can’t do is measure aspects of forest quality beneath the canopy.</p>
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<p>Our research strongly suggests that one aspect of forest quality – defaunation – is a vital early warning sign of future losses in the carbon storing capacity of forests. In light of this, policies for managing forest carbon around the world <a href="https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-08/BelowTheCanopyReport.pdf">may need a rethink</a>.</p>
<p>We need to pay more attention to what’s going on beneath global forest canopies through research on the ground, though this will be difficult in remote areas. More importantly, we must make sure we’re doing all we can to conserve the full complement of animal species that live in our forests. For example, we need to heavily invest in <a href="http://re.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/Conservation%20and%20use%20of%20wildlife-based%20resources.pdf">conservation actions</a> that help communities accustomed to hunting bushmeat to meet their dietary protein needs without harming wildlife. We must also enforce existing rules better, such as those that outlaw hunting within parks and reserves.</p>
<p>Preventing defaunation in forests won’t be easy. But given what we know about the critical role forest animals play, doing so will be essential if we hope to retain diverse and carbon-rich forests in the tropics and around the world. If the beauty and wonder of the forest’s animals wasn’t enough reason to protect them, we now have another: by conserving wildlife, we will be helping to save ourselves from the catastrophic effects of climate breakdown.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1124746">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124746/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charlie Gardner's time, and other research costs on this project, were funded by WWF-UK. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jake Bicknell worked on a project funded by WWF-UK that led to the publication of this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Struebig receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoe Davies receives funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and WWF-UK</span></em></p>In the absence of animals to help larger trees reproduce, forests are suffering.Charlie Gardner, Lecturer in Conservation Biology, University of KentJake Bicknell, Lecturer in Conservation Biology, University of KentMatthew Struebig, Senior Lecturer in Biological Conservation, University of KentZoe Davies, Professor of Biodiversity Conservation, University of KentLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/950472018-05-08T13:55:19Z2018-05-08T13:55:19ZWhy poachers persist in hunting bushmeat – even though it’s dangerous<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/215169/original/file-20180417-163995-eh2l82.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/jbdodane</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The illegal hunting of bushmeat, or game meat, has long distressed wildlife conservationists. It has <a href="https://www.zsl.org/conservation/regions/africa/bushmeat-in-west-and-central-africa">persisted</a> in sub-Saharan Africa, attracting international attention and debate. Enforcement by authorities and community-based initiatives have been tried as anti-poaching approaches, but with mixed results. Overall, wildlife populations have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5098989/">continued</a> to plummet. </p>
<p>Why has poaching refused to go away? The answer, as <a href="http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2017;volume=15;issue=1;spage=24;epage=32;aulast=Knapp">suggested</a> by poachers themselves, is simple: because poaching pays.</p>
<p>We conducted <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/194008291200500403">a study</a> with poachers in western Tanzania. Our findings shed new light on what motivates people to poach and shows that poachers benefit considerably while the costs are negligible. The study also knocks down the general perception about who poachers are – they’re not necessarily the poorest of the poor. Rather than hunting for basic subsistence, they take risks to widen their livelihood options and improve their situation. </p>
<p>Our research therefore suggests that current approaches to dealing with poaching are misplaced for a simple reason: poachers vary widely. Bottom-up, or community-based, interventions <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B970DAE419EE0CD939CC4B1CFBBE0947/S0030605302000716a.pdf/div-class-title-uneconomical-game-cropping-in-a-community-based-conservation-project-outside-the-serengeti-national-park-tanzania-div.pdf">like</a> providing meat at a reduced cost, are unlikely to work unless the benefits can offset what they gain through poaching. And for those who are poaching out of necessity, top-down measures, like longer prison sentences or greater fines, are unlikely to be effective because they don’t have alternative ways to make an income. </p>
<h2>Cost benefit analysis</h2>
<p>Our study focused on individuals who lived in villages that bordered two premier national parks in Tanzania: Serengeti National Park and Ruaha National Park. </p>
<p>We interviewed 200 poachers, asking them questions about their lives, livelihood alternatives and motivations for poaching. Respondents volunteered information freely and were neither paid nor given incentives for their participation. </p>
<p>We found that illegal hunters are making rational decisions. They earn far more through hunting than through all the other options combined for rural farmers. Over a 12-month period, poachers on average generated US$425. This is considerably more than the amount earned through typical means – such as trade, small business, livestock sales and agricultural sales – which amount to about US$258 each year. </p>
<p>Obviously, benefits are meaningless unless compared to the costs involved. Hunting large animals in the bush carries economic and physical risks. Hunters could get injured, risk imprisonment or lose the opportunity to farm or do other forms of legitimate business. </p>
<p>But, in places like rural Tanzania, the benefits outweigh these costs. </p>
<p>Where farming is <a href="https://www.farmafrica.org/us/tanzania/tanzania">the main</a> income generator, there is lots of time available to hunt between planting and harvesting seasons. And with high formal <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201704120054.html">unemployment</a>, labour in a typical household is rarely a limiting factor. We compared poaching and non-poaching households and found that the opportunity costs forfeited by poaching households amounted to just US$116, far below the amount gained through bushmeat sales of US$425. Because other income generating opportunities are few and pay little, poachers have little to lose by poaching.</p>
<p>Other economic costs may come in the form of arrests, imprisonment and subsequent fines. Each time a poacher entered the bush, he faced a 0.07% chance of being arrested. Once arrested, poachers may be fined, imprisoned, beaten or let off. Two-thirds of poachers had never been arrested. Those who had spent just 0.04 days in prison when averaged over a career of 5.2 years. Of those arrested, just over half (56%) had been fined, with fines averaging US$39. For every trip taken, poachers paid just two cents when averaged over their career. </p>
<p>The story here is simple. The majority of poachers never get arrested. And those who do pay a penalty that is paltry compared to the income typically earned. </p>
<p>Physical costs, including injury and possibly even death, have been far more difficult to assess. Outside Serengeti National Park, dangerous wildlife was frequently encountered in the bush and one-third of the poachers questioned had been injured during their hunting careers. Recovery times averaged slightly more than a month. But when averaged over the number of days a poacher spends in the bush (1,901 days), the likelihood of being injured on any given day was remarkably low, just 0.02%. </p>
<p>Still, poaching isn’t easy. Eight in ten respondents claimed it was a difficult activity and that they did it primarily because they didn’t make enough money from legal activities. </p>
<h2>Moderately poor</h2>
<p>Poverty has long been <a href="http://www.borgenmagazine.com/connection-poaching-and-poverty/">assumed</a> to be a primary driver of poaching activities, however it may not be that poachers are the poorest of the poor. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://tropicalconservationscience.mongabay.com/content/v5/TCS-2012_Vol_5(4)_434-445_Knapp.pdf">analysis</a> of poachers living along the borders of Ruaha National Park, revealed that they are poor, but not absolutely poor. In the language of the economist Jeffrey Sachs, many poachers may be “moderately poor”. They are unlikely to go hungry in the short term and are able to focus more on expanding their livelihood options. </p>
<p>Regarding their economic self-perception, these poaching households were similar to non-poaching households. Over half (54%) of poaching households considered themselves economically “average” rather than “poor”. </p>
<p>So, if poachers don’t consider themselves to be poor and consider poaching difficult, why do they do it? The answer may lay in a concept that the Nobel Peace Prize winner Amartya Sen <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/sen-cap/">has called</a> “capability deprivation”.</p>
<p>Many poachers lack choices by which to improve their lives. They lack access to income which reduces their chances for further education or entrepreneurial opportunity. Deprived of capabilities to make a better life, many poachers —- at least in Tanzania —- continue to poach to gain agency, rather than just to make ends meet. </p>
<p>One respondent, outside Ruaha National Park, stated that after poaching for six years, he gave it up. His livestock numbers had grown enough to ensure sufficient income the whole year through. This poacher’s story reveals that some threshold of affluence is attainable for longtime poachers to curb illegal activity.</p>
<p>Results here present a new twist for those seeking to protect dwindling wildlife populations. It means that strategies to stop poaching can no longer focus merely on the poorest of the poor. Without other ways to improve their livelihoods, even poachers who can meet their basic needs will continue poaching. For one really simple reason: it pays.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eli Knapp does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many poachers continue to poach to improve their incomes, rather than just make ends meet.Eli Knapp, Assistant Professor of Intercultural Studies, Biology and Earth Science, Houghton CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/677332016-10-30T10:47:59Z2016-10-30T10:47:59ZHow an Ebola campaign in Nigeria discouraged bushmeat consumption<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/143695/original/image-20161028-15793-1mjk0la.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Countries like Nigeria affected by Ebola have launched campaigns to curb the consumption of bushmeat like fruit bats.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bushmeat trade is a regular feature in many parts of Africa. People rely on it for livelihoods and, more importantly, for food. Trade in bushmeat is particularly common in west and central Africa where people <a href="http://www.bushmeat.org/bushmeat_and_wildlife_trade/what_is_the_bushmeat_crisis">regularly eat</a> antelope, wild pigs and boars, large rodents, fruit bats and monkeys.</p>
<p>But bushmeat presents a problem for public health. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4456362/">Research</a> has linked the consumption of bushmeat to the Ebola outbreak that spread across west African countries in 2014 and 2015, and led to over <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/case-counts.html">11 000 deaths</a>. According to <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/12/bat-filled-tree-may-have-been-ground-zero-ebola-epidemic">most authorities</a> fruit bats were involved in the contagion. </p>
<p>Since the Ebola outbreak has been brought under control a number of governments in countries affected by Ebola have launched massive media and propaganda campaigns to curb the consumption of bushmeat. These include Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The campaigns have included distributing information door-to-door as well as promotions on radio, newspapers and television. </p>
<p>The campaign in Nigeria was particularly well planned. It involved broadcasting messages about the dangers of bushmeat on television and radio. Newspapers were also used to spread the message. I was involved in a <a href="http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/HER_26_1_2_0057-0064.pdf">research project</a> to assess the impact of the campaign. We found that it had a dramatic effect on the trade in bushmeat. This could provide useful lessons for other countries.</p>
<h2>Trade in bushmeat in Niger Delta markets</h2>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.zobodat.at/pdf/HER_26_1_2_0057-0064.pdf">study</a>, which involved academics and researchers from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology Port Harcourt and the Institute for Developmnent, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, looked at several bushmeat markets in the Niger Delta region. Our aim was to establish whether or not the government’s campaign in the region had discouraged bushmeat consumption. We chose the region because it has some of the highest rates of bushmeat consumption in the country. In addition, the Ebola virus reached Port Harcourt <a href="http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2014/09/quarantine-escapee-sparked-more-ebola-nigeria">due to travellers from Liberia and Lagos</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aje.12231/full">study</a> tracked the average number of carcasses recorded in each market before and after the Ebola virus spread in Nigeria <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/ebola-patient-flies-liberia-nigeria-dies-fellow-passengers-being-monitored-1458431">in June 2014</a>. </p>
<p>The markets were surveyed twice a month between March and September 2014. Our survey found a statistically significant fall in trade for all the main traded types of animals. These included antelopes, monkeys, genets, mongooses, rodents, porcupines, birds, crocodiles, turtles and snakes. In particular, the trade in monkeys and fruit bats almost disappeared. Trade in turtles, crocodiles and other cold-blooded species was less affected.</p>
<p>Based on interviews with traders and customers it was clear that the collapse in the bushmeat trade was the result of the Nigerian government’s strong information campaign. People heeded its alerts about the risk of the Ebola virus spreading in the country.</p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>What still needs to be tracked is whether or not the decrease in trade will continue now that the threat of Ebola has receded. </p>
<p>But the effect of the drop in consumption is likely to have both negative and positive consequences. A negative consequence is that local people who rely economically on the trade may be affected. This includes hunters who may be forced to take up other activities, such as keeping livestock and getting involved in farming. This in turn could affect the landscape. </p>
<p>But many more assessments of the wider impact of the virus, some of which are <a href="http://www.ideccngo.org/projects/ecology-of-ebola">already under way</a>, still need to be done. </p>
<p>The Nigerian experience shows that bushmeat, although culturally important, is not as important as previously thought for rural people in west Africa. Indeed, the collapse of the trade - both as a response to the virus as well as the Nigerian government’s media campaign - suggests that people can be discouraged from consuming this food source. And that it is possible to reduce the readiness of rural people to consume bushmeat.</p>
<p><em>Daniele Dendi co-authored this article. He is an ecological economist, with special interest in sustainable development models in West African countries.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67733/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luca Maria Luiselli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Consuming bushmeat is thought to have contributed to the outbreak of Ebola in west Africa. Countries in the region are trying to slow down consumption.Luca Maria Luiselli, Visiting professor Biostatistics, Zoology, Ecology, The Rivers State University of Science and TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/640632016-08-21T17:53:49Z2016-08-21T17:53:49ZThe threat to the world’s largest wild animals is much greater than we thought<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134652/original/image-20160818-12312-4dyz0u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cheetahs have experienced severe range contractions, their numbers declining markedly in many protected areas</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>A group of leading conservationists has declared that an extinction crisis is facing the world’s largest wildlife. In a new report titled <a href="http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/07/25/biosci.biw092">“Saving the World’s Terrestrial Megafauna”</a>, they found that 59% of the world’s largest carnivores, including big cats, and 60% of the world’s largest herbivores, face dramatic population and range losses. The Conversation Africa’s Samantha Spooner spoke to one of the authors, Peter Lindsey, about the findings.</em></p>
<p><strong>How serious is the threat facing megafauna?</strong></p>
<p>The threat is severe and accelerating. Approximately 60% of the world’s largest carnivores and herbivores are classified as being threatened with
extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">Red List</a> of threatened species. We are at serious risk of losing some of our most iconic, charismatic and beloved species. </p>
<p>In some cases, species may not necessarily go completely extinct, but disappear from vast areas where they occurred. For example, African elephants are facing a massive poaching onslaught, 75% of their populations are <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/111/36/13117.short">declining</a> and their range is shrinking fast.</p>
<p><strong>What are megafauna, where are the biggest populations and why are they important?</strong></p>
<p>Megafauna are large animals. For example, mammalian carnivores of 15 kg or larger like African wild dogs or lions, and herbivores of 100 kg or larger such as elephants, rhinos or hippos. Significant populations occur in a number of places in the world, including Africa, North America, northern Europe and parts of Asia. The highest densities of megafauna probably occur in parts of southern and East Africa. </p>
<p>Megafauna species are very important for a variety of ecological, social and economic reasons. They play a vital role in ecological processes such as predation (preying on other animals), nutrient cycling, seed dispersal and through the “engineering” of soil and vegetation. For example, large herbivores consume and trample plants, which can maintain open areas in otherwise dense vegetation. This can be crucial for other species to gain access. </p>
<p>Large mammals are also important to human societies as symbols and totems. A great number of people derive enormous value from the simple knowledge that large, charismatic, and sometimes dangerous species still exist. And in some cases cultural values bestowed on megafauna translate into economic values through tourism industries.</p>
<p><strong>What is threatening them and what is the extent of the threat?</strong></p>
<p>Many species are taking strain from growing human population pressures. Key threats include habitat destruction for agricultural and urban expansion, excessive harvests for meat or body parts and persecution due to conflict with humans over crops or livestock. </p>
<p>The extent of these threats varies greatly from country to country and from species to species. But on the whole. pressures on megafauna are severe. That’s why we are seeing dramatic population declines and range contractions. </p>
<p><strong>Why are they particularly at risk?</strong></p>
<p>Megafauna often occur at very low densities and have very large area requirements. Some species need huge tracts of natural habitat to survive. Due to their large size, many species breed relatively slowly. This means that they are less resilient than many smaller species and less able to handle persecution and harvest.</p>
<p><strong>In Africa, what are the greatest challenges in protecting megafauna?</strong></p>
<p>There are several key threats to megafauna on the continent. The one that arguably affects the widest range of species is the illegal bushmeat trade. Hundreds of thousands of large mammals per year are poached, with snares or automatic weapons, for meat to fuel an increasingly commercialised trade in bushmeat. This can decimate wildlife populations if left unchecked. </p>
<p>Targeted poaching for body parts is also causing rapid declines in some species. For example, elephants are poached for ivory, rhinoceroses for their horns and leopards for their skins. </p>
<p>Habitat destruction and encroachment of wild lands by people and their livestock is another major and growing issue. This also happens in many formally protected areas. As human and livestock populations expand, human-wildlife conflict is a growing issue. This invariably ends badly for the wildlife involved. </p>
<p><strong>What can be done? Are any groups getting it right?</strong></p>
<p>We need to do three key things to save Africa’s megafauna.</p>
<ul>
<li>Long term financial and technical support must be provided to wildlife authorities to help them manage protected areas. There is a strong case for greater international support for Africa’s protected area network. Firstly, many African countries have protected area networks that are much larger than the global average and that are beyond their economic means to protect. </li>
</ul>
<p>Second, a large proportion of demand for wildlife products for the illegal wildlife trade is international in nature. Thirdly, developed countries have never lived up to pledges of conservation support made at the <a href="http://www.unep.org/documents.multilingual/default.asp?documentid=78&articleid=1163">Rio Earth Summit in 1992</a>. Lastly, investing in protected areas is a very direct way in which the developed world can help to promote sustainable development in rural areas. </p>
<p>Managing protected areas well enables the development of sustainable tourism industries. This can provide economic diversification, stimulate job creation, generate livelihood benefits and provide poverty relief in a sustainable way. Unfortunately, in many African countries, wildlife is key to attracting visitors. But it’s being lost before the economic benefits can ever be generated. </p>
<p>The organisations achieving the greatest conservation gains in Africa are, in my opinion, those that have forged long-term partnerships with state wildlife authorities for the management of protected areas. These show the significance of long term engagement, backed up with financial support and strong technical and capacity building input. These partnerships have delivered impressive recoveries in wildlife populations in some places. Examples include, among others, the <a href="https://fzs.org/en/">Frankfurt Zoological Society</a> and <a href="https://www.african-parks.org/">African Parks</a>. </p>
<ul>
<li>Integrate efforts to promote conservation and human development. Meaning, wildlife conservation becomes a vehicle through which livelihoods and welfare are improved.</li>
</ul>
<p>Some organisations have done incredible work in developing wildlife as a land use on community lands. For example, the <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/">World Wildlife Fund</a> and others in Namibia and the <a href="http://www.nrt-kenya.org/">Northern Rangelands Trust</a> in Kenya. In both countries, vast areas of community lands have become established as wildlife areas as a direct result of conservation programmes specifically designed to target human needs and to empower local communities.</p>
<ul>
<li>Develop threat-specific or species-specific conservation approaches. Some organisations have done this successfully. For example, lions are exceptionally vulnerable to persecution arising from conflict with livestock owners. My own organisation, <a href="https://www.panthera.org/">Panthera</a>, works to address some of these specific threats at various sites. Panthera’s <a href="https://www.panthera.org/initiative/project-leonardo">Project Leonardo</a> supports a number of projects that reduce the persecution of lions by helping farmers protect their livestock.</li>
</ul>
<p>The contributions of conservation NGOs are of key importance. But the hard work and dedication of African state wildlife authorities in saving megafauna under difficult conditions must not be understated. The most effective conservation programmes are those that work closely with (and empower) wildlife authorities and the local communities that live with – and ultimately decide the fate of – wildlife.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64063/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Lindsey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>60% of the world’s largest carnivores and herbivores are classified as being threatened with extinctionPeter Lindsey, Policy Coordinator, Lion Program, Panthera, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/444812015-07-27T04:36:08Z2015-07-27T04:36:08ZDealing with African epidemics needs more than just a health response<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89144/original/image-20150721-24282-1nxxthw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C303%2C2998%2C1788&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Increasing human-wildlife interactions pose threats not only to public health, but also to conservation, and well-being.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ahmed Khan</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Understanding the complex linkages between food systems, wildlife, and environmental health raises questions about the governance of epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. These epidemics, like the recent outbreak of the Ebola virus, are born from interactions between society and nature.</p>
<p>There are dire human development needs in the region. These needs make an evaluation of institutional structures and processes critical. This is especially true when dealing with the mutual needs of natural resource management and public health. </p>
<p>Most of the interventions during the Ebola outbreak focused on public <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1411100">health</a>. An example of this was the work done on vaccine trials and lock downs. A complementary approach is to assess food security and nutritional well-being, address wildlife management concerns and map risk zones in an environmental governance framework. </p>
<p>These multiple <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2Fs40152-015-0020-2#page-1">pathways</a> could pave the way to understanding the synergistic efforts between public health, food security and wildlife <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01637.x/abstract">management</a>. </p>
<p>Food security and human development challenges are huge <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/104/43/16747.full">issues</a> on the continent, and particularly in western Africa. With several fragile states and weak governance systems, the region has been a hot spot on a range of issues from civil conflicts, fragile states, cholera epidemics, high infant mortality rates, and the recent Ebola outbreak.</p>
<p>So, what can governments and non-governmental actors do to curb and prevent future crisis?</p>
<h2>Food security</h2>
<p>National and sub-regional food policies are necessary, in addition to climate-smart food production strategies. This is because the region is vulnerable to both global environmental and economic changes. For example, climate change is affecting fishery productivity and seafood access in the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/1814232X.2012.673294#.VaMYLflM2Vo">region</a>.
Even with good catch-landings, it has been experiencing a net seafood <a href="http://jed.sagepub.com/content/13/2/156.short">deficit</a>. This is partly because most government policies emphasise industrial production for exports rather than local consumption. A twin approach that encourages both local food access in the small-scale sector and export markets in the industrial sector is crucial.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89619/original/image-20150724-7593-d8hn7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/89619/original/image-20150724-7593-d8hn7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89619/original/image-20150724-7593-d8hn7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89619/original/image-20150724-7593-d8hn7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89619/original/image-20150724-7593-d8hn7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89619/original/image-20150724-7593-d8hn7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/89619/original/image-20150724-7593-d8hn7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seafood is a major dietary need as it provides up to 75% protein source in countries like Sierra Leone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ahmed Khan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pressures on local seafood production systems often lead to alternate and other sources of protein including wild <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/306/5699/1180">game</a>. This has implications for food security and biodiversity <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2002.01634.x/abstract">conservation</a> as well as for public <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2Fs40152-015-0020-2#page-1">health</a>.</p>
<p>Then there’s the <a href="http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/127444">agriculture sector</a>. Here, climate change has implications for changing rainfall and temperature patterns that affect food production through flooding and drought.</p>
<p>Such environmental changes influence human well-being through <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/341/6145/508">food security</a> as well as the spread of pathogens and <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2806%2968079-3/abstract">diseases</a>.</p>
<p>Paying attention to wildlife consumption may help prevent the outbreak of diseases. Human-wildlife interactions have led to potential Ebola contagion through pathogen hosts especially fruit bats, swine and <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7068/full/438575a.html">apes</a>. The World Health Organisation suggests that the disease initially spread from wild animals to <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/">humans</a> after which it spread through human-to-human transmission</p>
<h2>Migration and urbanisation</h2>
<p>The risk to public health is also increased by <a href="http://currents.plos.org/outbreaks/article/assessing-the-international-spreading-risk-associated-with-the-2014-west-african-ebola-outbreak/">migration</a>. This is further heightened by cross border <a href="http://currents.plos.org/outbreaks/article/assessing-the-international-spreading-risk-associated-with-the-2014-west-african-ebola-outbreak/">travel</a>. In the absence of vaccines, high fatality rates ensue. The <a href="http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:293668/FULLTEXT01.pdf">Mano River Basin</a> is one such example. The high cross border traffic in this area bordering Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone could have spurred the rapid infection rates in the sub-region. </p>
<p>At the same time, increasing urbanisation and deforestation also affects critical habitats of these wildlife species and worsens its potential spread.</p>
<h2>Be better prepared</h2>
<p>The past epidemic in west Africa demonstrates a dysfunctional intervention process that was too late and poorly <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe1411471">coordinated.</a> Added to that is corruption and abuse. Efforts are required for ecosystem monitoring, social and cultural norms that are consistent with medical best practices, and institutional partnership for health research to prevent future outbreaks. </p>
<p>The incidence provides lessons on disaster preparedness to deal with crisis <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2Fs40152-015-0020-2#page-1">management</a>. It also points to the need for interdisciplinary research and capacity building programs for environment and public <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18929977">health</a> practitioners. These practitioners need to be aware of the social, cultural, political and economic dimensions of epidemics.</p>
<p>Multi-level institutional partnerships with organisations like the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, United Nations Environment Programme, the World Health Organisation, and regional governments are necessary for coordinating and strengthening capacity to deal with future crisis.</p>
<p>Research centres and local governments could play the role of bridging organisations within these <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12381559">partnerships</a>. This may involve new models of community development and rural planning that integrates disaster management and health protocols with local institutions and actors. </p>
<p>Diaspora and local social networks have been phenomenal in pooling resources together to support victims and could even play a bigger role in championing training and public engagement initiatives. </p>
<p>Lastly, mutually enforcing national policies that support nutritional well-being and ecosystem integrity could also mitigate such epidemics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ahmed Khan receives financial support during his postdoctoral fellowship from Saint Mary's University, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada</span></em></p>Public health is not the only way to manage epidemic outbreaks like the Ebola virus.Ahmed Khan, Postdoctoral research fellow, Saint Mary’s UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/327852014-10-16T05:27:00Z2014-10-16T05:27:00ZEbola: bats get a bad rap when it comes to spreading diseases<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61847/original/2dz2ss27-1413382353.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C3%2C1022%2C599&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Just hanging.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/studioranslam/8550028895/sizes/l/in/photolist-e2x8Hi-e2x8Ug-bzvUQX-oeKfXn/">Diana Ranslam</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In an era flush with vaccines and antibiotics, when the greatest health risks in the developed world ride on the back of fried fish and hamburgers, it is easy to forget that infectious diseases still account for a quarter of all human deaths worldwide. </p>
<p>Although this is a burden largely carried by more impoverished nations, the unfolding Ebola outbreak is a dramatic reminder that infectious diseases, and the dangers they pose, have no respect for country borders. </p>
<h2>Making the leap</h2>
<p>One of the greatest global health threats lies <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-emerging-viruses-here-and-why-now-29311">in emerging diseases</a>, which have never been seen before in humans or — as with Ebola — appear sporadically in new locations. Most emerging diseases are zoonoses, meaning they are caused by pathogens that can jump from animals into people. Out of more than 300 emerging infections identified since 1940, <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7181/full/nature06536.html">over 60% are zoonotic</a>, and of these, 72% originate in wildlife. </p>
<p>Whereas some zoonotic infections, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rabies-a-global-killer-that-dog-jabs-can-eliminate-32289">such as rabies</a>, cannot be transmitted between human patients, others can spread across populations and borders: in 2003, SARS, a coronavirus linked to bats, <a href="https://theconversation.com/sars-mers-preparing-for-the-next-coronavirus-pandemic-16359">spread to several continents</a> within a few weeks before it was eliminated, while HIV has become, over several decades, a persistent pandemic. </p>
<p>The unpredictable nature and novelty of zoonotic pathogens make them incredibly difficult to defend against and respond to. But that does not mean we are helpless in the face of emerging ones. Because we know that the majority of zoonoses pass from wildlife, we can start to identify high-risk points for transmission by determining which wildlife species may pose the greatest risk. </p>
<h2>Searching for suspects</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61849/original/xshdc4vn-1413382683.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61849/original/xshdc4vn-1413382683.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61849/original/xshdc4vn-1413382683.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61849/original/xshdc4vn-1413382683.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=721&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61849/original/xshdc4vn-1413382683.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61849/original/xshdc4vn-1413382683.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61849/original/xshdc4vn-1413382683.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=906&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Testing for exposure to certain zoonotic pathogens.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexandra Kamins</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of all wildlife species, bats in particular pose complex questions. The second most diverse group of mammals after rodents, they host more than <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1539106/">65 known human pathogens</a>, including Ebola virus, coronavirus (the cause of SARS), henipaviruses (which can cause deadly encephalitis in humans) and rabies.</p>
<p>But they are also one of the mammalian groups most <a href="http://www.batcon.org/">vulnerable</a> to overhunting and habitat destruction, while providing indispensable ecological functions such as <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/41.short">pest control</a> by bats that eat insects, pollination and seed dispersal. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61862/original/vpv88f6g-1413386960.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61862/original/vpv88f6g-1413386960.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61862/original/vpv88f6g-1413386960.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61862/original/vpv88f6g-1413386960.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61862/original/vpv88f6g-1413386960.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61862/original/vpv88f6g-1413386960.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61862/original/vpv88f6g-1413386960.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Going bats for fruit.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nano_maus/6592439229/sizes/l/in/photolist-b3xYvk-8eMjcb-69JhdP-8eMiWW-b3xY1i-b3xXEB-9XZimi-ceKDiJ-8wrpjz-734tpB-69Jhek-d2qBEq-d2qBPE-d2qBvE-d2qBV7-d2qC1o-6QP1AH-9YQmjG-bXodec-dzM5HZ-82E3qk-buogyC-e2x8Zc-e2x8Dg-e2x8Hi-e2x8Ug-bzvUQX-oeKfXn/">Nano maus</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The loss of bats, whether from hunting or for disease control almost certainly would have far-reaching and long-lasting ecological and economic consequences.</p>
<p>This much we know, and yet the details of how zoonoses spill over from bats into people are vastly understudied. Understanding how humans and bats interact had, until recently, never been examined in West Africa, and only peripherally probed elsewhere in the world. Uncovering behaviour that brings humans into contact with bats and other wildlife, and exposes people to zoonoses, could provide invaluable clues for preventing zoonotic outbreaks. To address these questions, we put together an international network of collaborators, led in the UK by the <a href="http://www.zsl.org/science/research/people-wildlife-ecosystems">Zoological Society of London</a> and the <a href="http://www.vet.cam.ac.uk/ddu">University of Cambridge</a>. </p>
<p>From Malaysia to Ghana, from Australia to Peru, bats are coming into contact with humans more and more frequently as people are expanding into previously virgin territories. </p>
<h2>Bats as bushmeat</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61848/original/2kp4rs6n-1413382555.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61848/original/2kp4rs6n-1413382555.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61848/original/2kp4rs6n-1413382555.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61848/original/2kp4rs6n-1413382555.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61848/original/2kp4rs6n-1413382555.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61848/original/2kp4rs6n-1413382555.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61848/original/2kp4rs6n-1413382555.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smoked fruit bats for sale.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexandra Kamins</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fruit bats are also often attracted to orchards and gardens planted on the edge of their territories. But another human behaviour contributes significantly to the risk of zoonotic spillover from all wildlife species: hunting. The consumption of bushmeat, or wild animal meat, is a global phenomenon on a massive scale – estimates of the combined bushmeat consumption in Central Africa and the Amazon Basin exceed <a href="http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/11/7/05-0194_article">1 billion kilograms annually</a>. </p>
<p>In Ghana, where fruit bats have tested positive for antibodies to <a href="http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0002739.g001">henipaviruses</a> and <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3376795/">Ebola virus</a>, the status of bats as bushmeat was essentially unknown until we began our investigation five years ago. </p>
<p>In two recent studies carried out in Ghana, we reported how many people hunt bats for both food and money. We estimated that <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S000632071100348X">more than 100,000 fruit bats</a>, specifically the straw coloured fruit bat, are harvested every year. Bat meat likely provides an important secondary source of protein for the hunters and their families, especially when other sources such as fish or antelope are scarce. Bat meat also fetches a fairly high price at markets, supplementing a hunter’s often inconsistent income. </p>
<p>But hunters and those who prepare bat meat for sale or consumption also place themselves at risk of exposure to bat-borne zoonotic pathogens. Such pathogens can pass through blood, scratches, bites, and urine. Bat hunters handle live, often wounded bats and freshly killed bats, putting them into direct contact with bat blood and at risk of being bitten and scratched. Despite this, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10393-014-0977-0">hunters are largely unaware of the risks they run</a>.</p>
<p>Understanding what risks bats pose, as little as we know, is only the beginning of the challenge. Reducing the risk of zoonoses is not simple or easy, and certainly not a simple question of stopping hunting or culling reservoir hosts. Whether eating their body weights in insects every night, or dispersing seeds from fruit trees across large areas, bats provide services to local economies worth billions of dollars across the world. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61851/original/2s9bnq7x-1413382890.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61851/original/2s9bnq7x-1413382890.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61851/original/2s9bnq7x-1413382890.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61851/original/2s9bnq7x-1413382890.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61851/original/2s9bnq7x-1413382890.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61851/original/2s9bnq7x-1413382890.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61851/original/2s9bnq7x-1413382890.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hunter in Accra with a live, wounded bat he shot with a catapult.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alexandra Kamins</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some people also depend on bat meat, and other bushmeat, <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0072807">for both their survival and livelihoods</a>. Bushmeat hunting often occurs in remote or impoverished places, where little infrastructure exists to support alternative livelihoods or even enforcement of hunting laws. Reducing risk sustainably and equitably will therefore likely need a combination of interventions, encompassing developmental approaches to strengthen local economies, expand job opportunities, and increase the supply of safer alternative protein sources in order to reduce the need to hunt wildlife – together with education to promote safer hunting practices. </p>
<p>Communities may have to change how they use land, and limit bushmeat hunting and human expansion activities to minimise the risks of spillover. At the same time, we need advances in medical technology and surveillance systems to monitor and swiftly respond when outbreaks do occur. </p>
<p>Such interventions can be complex and costly, but are essential. While the 2014 Ebola outbreak is the biggest to date, there will almost certainly be many zoonotic disease outbreaks in the future. By bringing together expertise from <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/367/1604/2881.full.html">ecology, epidemiology and social sciences</a>, and concentrating on long-term management of risks, we hope to help communities maintain a safe and mutually beneficial relationship with their natural environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Kamins was co-author of the paper 'Uncovering the fruit bat bushmeat commodity chain and the true extent of fruit bat hunting in Ghana, West Africa', funded by the University of Cambridge and the Gates Foundation. She works as a reacher for the Colorado Hospital Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Rowcliffe was co-author of the paper 'Uncovering the fruit bat bushmeat commodity chain and the true extent of fruit bat hunting in Ghana, West Africa', funded by the University of Cambridge and the Gates Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olivier Restif is employed by the University of Cambridge, and receives funding from the Royal Society, the BBSRC and US Federal Agencies.</span></em></p>In an era flush with vaccines and antibiotics, when the greatest health risks in the developed world ride on the back of fried fish and hamburgers, it is easy to forget that infectious diseases still account…Alexandra Kamins, Research Analyst at the Colorado Hospital Association, Colorado Hospital AssociationMarcus Rowcliffe, Research Fellow, Zoological Society of LondonOlivier Restif, Royal Society University Research Fellow, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/329142014-10-14T05:17:55Z2014-10-14T05:17:55ZTake bushmeat off the menu before humans are served another Ebola<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61541/original/z92f5k3d-1413210161.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What's for dinner? Crocodile and antelope.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cifor/8098840723">CIFOR</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few weeks ago I was visiting a colleague in Brazil who told me he had a new post-doctoral researcher working for him from West Africa, but that he was in 21 days quarantine. I asked him if the newest member of his staff was in the university’s hospital; he replied “no”, he is wandering around the streets of the city until his 21 days are up – he is just not allowed on the campus. </p>
<p>As disease researchers know the great problem of the modern era is transport: since the times of our great-grandfathers human ability to traverse the planet has increased exponentially. And the risk of disease epidemics such as Ebola has followed.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/ebola">present Ebola crisis</a> appears, like HIV before it, to have started with the disease jumping from a wild species, <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/">in this case bats</a>, to humans. Ebola and bats have been battling out an evolutionary war for thousands of years and have more or less come to a stalemate whereby bats are infected and the virus can reproduce itself, but bats are not killed. A similar situation is seen in the case of <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080522181527.htm">simian retroviruses (SIV)</a>, the precursors of HIV. Both come about from the arms race that occurs between a disease and its host: if lions start to run faster then so do their prey, otherwise the prey and ultimately the lion will go to extinction. These wars between diseases and their hosts can be found everywhere on the planet.</p>
<p>But what about the native people who live in forests? Surely they have been fighting this same evolutionary arms race with these same diseases. The answer is perhaps not. Studies of the Ache tribe of <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0162309587900550">hunter gathers in Paraguay</a> show that they do not hunt species indiscriminately. While their jungle home contains thousands of potential animal species to consume, they basically focus on eating only 12. The items on their menu are selected in terms of their energetic profitability; that is, the minimum amount of search time for the maximum amount of calories. In this case the favoured food item is the armadillo.</p>
<p>Historically hunter gather tribes were small and widely dispersed. Thus, if they did get Ebola everyone might have died but there would have been little transmission to other groups of humans – and no epidemic. Agriculture changes everything, as large well-connected groups can easily transmit diseases.</p>
<p>It is also worth remembering that diseases can jump the species barrier in both directions. About five years ago in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte all of the wild urban marmosets in one area died out due to cold sore infections. Cold sores are caused by a <a href="http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/welfare-of-primates-physical-health">herpes virus</a>. This outbreak probably started unintentionally when a <a href="http://www.vet.ufmg.br/noticias/exibir/868/alimentar_micos_e_pombos_pode_trazer_riscos#.VDvvUPRwbcs">person with a cold sore</a> gave a fruit they were eating to some marmosets. Disease transmission is very much a two-way street and there is increasing evidence of human diseases passing on to wildlife, especially primates.</p>
<p>Wild animals hunted and eaten in tropical forests are known as <a href="http://wwf.panda.org/who_we_are/wwf_offices/ghana/solutions/index.cfm?uProjectID=9F0739">bushmeat</a> – and bushmeat represents a crisis of its own, as hunting threatens to make many species of wildlife extinct. The crisis has its origins in poverty. People simply need to eat animals to survive, a situation that is made worse by deforestation and the fragmentation of natural habitats. </p>
<p>There is the often romanticised view of native peoples as conservationists since they are generally not thought to have made <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/10278703">animal species go extinct</a>. But this situation is more to do with their limited technology and small populations relative to their environment, rather than because native people live in an ecologically friendly manner. As their traditional forests are hit, and the easy pickings dry up, eventually the menu of such people will need to include new less energetically profitable food. And access to technology such as firearms can make previously unattainable prey available.</p>
<p>Much of the modern bushmeat trade is no longer connected to native people needing to exploit wildlife as a food resource, but the descendants of these people who have developed a taste for the food. It is for this reason that several hundred tonnes of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jun/18/illegal-bushmeat-smuggled-europe">bushmeat enter Europe</a> each year, where its illegality has made it a status symbol in some sections of society. </p>
<p>Part of the problem with this trade in bushmeat is that judges in the countries where the hunting takes place often, naïvely, believe the hunter’s pleas of poverty and just “smack them on the wrists”. Research in the <a href="http://www.neotropicalbirdclub.org/pages/journal.asp?IssueID=20&Article_Link=Silveira">north-east of Brazil</a> has proven conclusively that hunting birds for food is much more expensive than buying chicken from the supermarket. Humans spent the past few thousand years breeding chickens, cows and pigs for a reason: they make a nicer, cheaper and less dangerous dinner than bats, gorillas or armadillos.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the threat of picking up a dreadful disease from bushmeat may not save these animals from extinction. A few years ago there was a yellow fever outbreak in Brazil and it was announced on the television that monkeys can be a host for this disease: this lead to the killing of <a href="http://diariogauche.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/febre-amarela-e-matanca-de-bugios.html">wild urban primates</a> in some cities. If humans continue to increase the items on their bushmeat menu then we can expect more diseases like Ebola and HIV to appear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert John Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A few weeks ago I was visiting a colleague in Brazil who told me he had a new post-doctoral researcher working for him from West Africa, but that he was in 21 days quarantine. I asked him if the newest…Robert John Young, Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.