40 BBCWildlife August 2020
Live monitors are offered for sale alive
(so the consumer can see they are fresh), and
there’s even a small, live crocodile trussed
up like a turkey. When asked whether any of
these species might host pathogens that could
make them sick, local people say it’s not a
risk, despite the fact that the consumption of
forest-dwelling African animals – including
chimpanzeesandgreatapes– hasbeen
blamedforalltheoutbreaksofthedeadly
Ebolavirus.It’sworthnotingthatthereis an
ongoingEbolaepidemicintheDemocratic
RepublicoftheCongorightnowthat’skilled
morethan2,000people.
Makingtheleap
It was,ofcourse,a wildlifemarket– or,more
accurately,thewildlifesectionoftheHuanan
SeafoodWholesaleMarket—inWuhan,
inthecentralChineseprovinceofHubei,
thatwasblamedforbeingtheplacewhere
thecoronavirusthatcausesCOVID-19first
jumpedfromananimalto a human.
Infact,scientistsfromtheWuhanInstitute
ofVirology(WIV)haverecentlyannounced
theydonotnowbelievethisto bethecase,
andthatthemarketactedasa locationwhere
theviruswasspreadaroundbyperhapsjust
oneinfectedindividual.
Butonething’sforsure:SARS-CoV-2(as
thevirusis officiallyknown– thefirstone,
SARS-CoV,causedSevereAcuteRespiratory
Syndrome,orSARS,andwasunleashedon
the world in 2002) came from an animal. The
reservoir host is almost certainly a horseshoe
bat – there are a number of species in China
- but the disease probably passed through
an intermediate host before reaching us.
The $64 million question is which species
and has wildlife trade and markets helped to
facilitate this unlikely journey?
A peer-reviewedstudyinthejournalNature
identifiedMalayanpangolins– oneofeight
speciesofthesestrange,scalymammals– as
carryinga coronavirusverysimilarto theone
causingthispandemic.Pangolinsarehighly
prizedinmanycuisinesinSouth-EastAsia,
andfortheirscalesinTraditionalChinese
Medicine,andarefrequentlydescribedas
theworld’smosttradedmammal.Snakes
havealsobeenhighlightedasa possible
intermediatehost,thoughtheevidencefor
thisis lessconvincing.
Butwhynow?WhyshouldCOVID-19
suddenlyhavejumpedshipfrompangolins–
orwhateverspecies– to usintheyear2020?
Wasit justbadluck– orsomethingelse?The
answermaylieinthewayinwhichhumans
aredestroyingandfragmentinghabitats,
especiallyintropicalpartsoftheworld.
“Withincreasedaccessintopreviously
inaccessibleplaces,poachersaredefinitely
ableto getmoreanimalsthantheycould
before,”saysChrisShepherd,executive
directorofthewildlifetradeinvestigation
groupMonitorandoneoftheworld’sleading
expertsonthelegalandillegal trade in wild
species.Theseareanimals that, for thousands
ofyears,mayhavelurkedunseen and
untroubledbythepoacher’s snare or spear.
Crossingboundaries
Butthere’ssomethingelse, too. Consumption
ofwildlife(bushmeat)is quite a luxury item,
notjustinChina,butalsoin many other
countriesthroughoutAsiaand Africa and, of
course,somewell-knownproducts are highly
prizedfortheirsupposedmedicinal qualities.
Indeed,Chrissaysthatthanks to the huge
profitsto bemade,it’snotjust habitat loss
that’sdrivingthe(mainlyillegal) wildlife
trade.“Evenwithoutroads, poachers will go
inandsometimessetupcamps that allow
themto liveintheforestfor months, setting
theirsnarelinesandhunting,” he says.
“Helmetedhornbills,pangolins, bears, tigers,
rhinos– thesearethethings that people will
goto noendto get.”
Thepoacherswillprobably have a contact,
a middleman,whowillbuy whatever they
catchoncetheyemergefrom the forest again.
Pangolinsmaybetradeddead or alive, though
Above: bushmeat
is for sale in the
markets of Lagos,
Nigeria. Right:
horseshoe bats are
thought to be the
source of SARS
and COVID-19.
Why now? Why should
COVID-19 suddenly
have jumped ship from
animals to people?
A giant flying squirrel
and green pigeons for
sale in Mong-La. Top
right: a stall in Lagos
displays a variety of
dead animals.