My recent article about bats and the Covid-19 (https://bit.ly/2UX17CX) provided some facts about the relationship between coronaviruses and these flying mammals. This is a follow up article which I feel reflects the thinking of many citizens around the world and professionals working in animal protection, animal welfare and conservation. Further reference to horseshoe bats which I have studied in Hong Kong is also provided.

▲There is now strong global support for the closure of all wildlife food markets. (Photo Credit: KFBG)

Wake up call

Although not obvious at first there is a significant if not positive outcome that could result from the Pandemic which now has a global hold, an outcome that could benefit humans, wild animals and nature as a whole.

The present global crisis is a wakeup call, world leaders and politicians have been warned about the possibilities of another emergent disease similar to SARS which struck earlier this century but as we have witnessed especially through the wildlife rescue work over the last 10 years, the illegal trade in wild animals has not stopped or even slowed and more diverse species are entering trade so the present enforcement systems and laws across the world are not working.

▲ Examples of typical Asian wildlife markets. (Photo Credit: KFBG)

We are more informed but there is incredible international lethargy related to seriously tackling the wildlife trade and identifying the key criminals behind the illegal trade. This same complacency has allowed Covid-19 to emerge and illegal trade in animals such as Pangolins to remain rife as it has been for many years.

While many conservation groups have been advocating harsher penalties for wildlife crime and illegal trafficking of animals and plants, Governments have considered this subject less important than other areas of crime, clearly in hindsight and based on the increasing number of deaths and damage to many economies this position now requires a major redress.

There is not only one Wuhan market in the world and wildlife trade crosses nearly every national and international border and jurisdiction. Pangolins illegally traded in Vietnam and China which are the major consumers of this mammal, may have originated from places as distant as Malaysia and Africa.

▲ Examples of typical Asian wildlife markets (Photo Credit: Dr. Gunter Fischer / KFBG)

▲ Examples of typical Asian wildlife markets (Photo Credit: Dr. Bosco Chan / KFBG)

Science and origins

Now is the time and opportunity to develop a more scientific, informed and inclusive approach to decisions which will affect the future of trade in animals and consider the dangers of zoonotic (animal to human and human to animal) emergent disease. Little time should be given to those with personal and vested interests and governments should not be bullied into watering down laws and regulations that will benefit human populations and the natural environment.

It is slightly ironic that while human communities are now practicing social distancing to break the viral transmission path, many species of bats, a group of mammals that is misunderstood and much maligned, live in dense groups where individuals benefit from the tightly packed congregations socially and thermally. Bats have been central to the emergent disease topic and have historically harboured corona viruses probably for thousands of years.

In the case of the Chinese Horseshoe Bats and Intermediate Horseshoe Bats, the close packing of individuals is also an advantage to the infant bats during the breeding season as the colonies will form a crèche or nursery where the mother bats leave their newly born young while they fly out of the cave roost to hunt. A small number of females will be left behind to care for the pink carpet of infant bats clinging to the cave roof until the mother bats return from their insect hunt to feed the hungry offspring. The corona virus is similar to the common cold in humans – it can spread quickly among these large congregations of bats but it is fairly harmless as far as we know and the bats immune systems have evolved to resist the virus when it is encountered.

▲ A Chinese Horseshoe Bat nursery. (Photo credit: CT Shek / AFCD)

Bats are not so stupid and hereby lies the problem with our advanced human society. We often think we know it all and have some strange right to utilize nature and natural resources without consequence and for many without even knowing or understanding the amazing and intricate lives of individual species and the impacts to those lives that their actions may contribute.

For instance, it is a little upsetting to think how many of these horseshoe nurseries waited for mother’s to return and perished in the thousands if not millions as the parent bats were trapped in mist nets and sent to wildlife markets supplying the food trade – the trappers and traders were probably unaware of the extent of the damage being subjected to the horseshoe bat species and in turn to the ecology of the forest from where the bats were removed. It is this kind of ignorance which continues to see swathes of forest destroyed and diverse animals removed to be funnelled primarily into the food and pet trade.

The reason bats are protected in most countries relates to their important ecological roles and their vulnerability. If there is one opening to a bat cave it does not take much imagination to see how the whole population of different cave roosting bats can be captured and removed almost in a single night. The population may be foraging on insects or pollinating fruit trees over several kilometres of tropical or temperate forest. The scale of damage to the bats and the ecosystem is unimaginable where protection is not in place or not enforced.

The traders and consumers may not have been interested and not aware of the effect the removal of bats would have on forest ecology.  However, if you consider that one horseshoe bat would be eating several thousand insects every night what a colossal impact on insect regulation the loss of thousands if not millions of horseshoe bats would have, the harvest is and was always unsustainable but reflects the abuse that humans enact on nature and illustrates how the imbalances that cause emergent disease outbreak start.

▲ Examples of typical Asian wildlife markets. (Photo Credit: KFBG)

Breaking the link

That was a small window into the life of just one kind of animal, how rich nature is that we have over a thousand species of bats globally and many more thousands of animal and plant species that all play important roles in maintaining the natural balance in nature and supporting the human species in diverse and uncountable ways.

Not surprisingly pulling such a gregarious animal as the horseshoe bat away from its wild home, stuffing it in a small cage with other bats and placing in wet market conditions, creates levels of stress that lead to the mutation and shedding of what were once natural inconspicuous viruses – this is not necessarily natures revenge but natures warning – a warning for human kind to wake up and take more care of the Earth and our wild neighbours.

Some understanding of components of the natural world help us to see what brought us to the situation we find ourselves in today. Societies are beginning to comprehend how our impactful acts come back to haunt us and determine our own health and survival on the planet – we are part of nature and the present pandemic we are all facing as a species is now making that clear to everybody – no matter what political leaning or religious persuasion you are, respect for nature’s intricate balance, the system that supports life on Earth is paramount.

One of the key objectives of this sharing is to convey the importance of not blaming the Covid-19 outbreak and the resulting pandemic on Nature and a particular group of wild animals. Nature and the natural world represent our life blood. The more we abuse nature’s complexity the more the ecological in-balance and as a result, the higher the risk of negative impacts on human society.

Doing the right thing

Based on the recent daily news, it seems that the subject of human reflection has been moving from Why the virus happened to Who is to blame. This is dangerous. Vested commercial interest can surely not override the need to prevent another future pandemic. The health and safety of everybody should be the ultimate outcome of any political decision making and this is not possible without closing down the wildlife trade and closing the door or gate on all wildlife markets.  

All countries that have wildlife markets (and there are many), can take up the challenge and adopt future blueprints for the health and safety of populations that put a stop to the often cruel and unsustainable wildlife trade and its subsequent damage to natural ecosystems.

Tough laws and strict regulations should not be compromised, all actions should aim to reduce the chance of societies facing future pandemics that may even be more virulent than Covid-19!

By Dr. Gary Ades, Head of Fauna Conservation Department of KFBG

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Further reading

The Opinion piece written by Cyril Christo below captures well the predicament that human civilization is in, the need to consider the importance of intrinsic values and recognise some short comings of the global economic system, and how finite resources are utilised without consideration for the natural world and its life nurturing cycles.

https://bit.ly/344cugP