|
Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brad Witt, President Trump, Henry Heimuller, VP Pence, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia’s dog, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone.
|
|
Illegal animal market- we can fix this problem easily
THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
The vast illegal wildlife trade and humanity’s excessive intrusion into nature is to blame for the coronavirus pandemic, according to a leading US scientist who says “this is not nature’s revenge, we did it to ourselves”. Scientists are discovering two to four new viruses are created every year as a result of human infringement on the natural world, and any one of those could turn into a pandemic, according to Thomas Lovejoy, who coined the term “biological diversity” in 1980 and is often referred to as the godfather of biodiversity. “This pandemic is the consequence of our persistent and excessive intrusion in nature and the vast illegal wildlife trade, and in particular, the wildlife markets, the wet markets, of south Asia and bush meat markets of Africa… It’s pretty obvious, it was just a matter of time before something like this was going to happen,” said Lovejoy, a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation and professor of environment science at George Mason University. His comments were made to mark the release of a report by the Center for American Progress arguing that the US should step up efforts to combat the wildlife trade to help confront pandemics. Wet markets are traditional markets selling live animals (farmed and wild) as well as fresh fruit, vegetables and fish, often in unhygienic conditions. They are found all over Africa and Asia, providing sustenance for hundreds of millions of people. The wet market in Wuhan believed to be the source of Covid-19 contained a number of wild animals, including foxes, rats, squirrels, wolf pups and salamanders. Lovejoy said separating wild animals from farmed animals in markets would significantly lower the risk of disease transmission. This is because there would be fewer new species for viruses to latch on to. “[Domesticated animals] can acquire these viruses, but if that’s all there was in the market, it would really lower the probability of a leak from a wild animal to a domesticated animal.” The pandemic will cost the global economy at least $1trillon this year, according to the World Economic Forum, with vulnerable communities impacted the most, and nearly half of all jobs in Africa could be lost. “This is not nature’s revenge, we did it to ourselves. The solution is to have a much more respectful approach to nature, which includes dealing with climate change and all the rest,” Lovejoy said. After reading several articles, many people believe shutting down these markets is not the answer because black markets will start and they are harder to check. Also the fact that indigenous people rely on bush meat as all parts of their diet, and would feel that civilized people are trying to take away their heritage and lives. So again making eating bush meat illegal will not help the problem. Also poor people eat these wild animals because they have nothing else to eat. These people live in severe poverty now and with- out bush meat they will die. Scientists and NGOs are concerned that over-simplistic and indiscriminate restrictions will exacerbate poverty and inequality, resulting in an increase in criminality. This could accelerate the exploitation and extinction of species in the wild. IN MY OPINION… Maybe the good answer to this problem could be….. Lets make sure people have safe, clean meat to eat all the time. Many would argue, the cost would be tremendous and countries could not afford to do this. I askyou… is the pandemics costless, for every nation in the world? Besides economic dollars, the loss of life, and hospitalization costs should be considered too. It would be cheaper to supply safe food for people than to deal with a pandemic. That’s just a thought. And I know, I can hear it before they speak it, the right wing side of politics would consider this socialism, and a democratic ploy to take over the world, and it’s welfare. Or-- why should I pay a few dollars for someone I don’t know to have safe food in another country. Simple answer is… look what a pandemic costs… it would be cheaper to provide safe food for people. Your life could go on as usual, safe and healthy and economically sound. In the long run the animals that are being hunted and killed and which are being driven into extinction would benefit too. Lets think about this idea. Make it a world- wide-- every country contributes a little to the cost. Why us when the issue is in Asia? Because we all would benefit. We live in a global community now, travel goes everywhere, And it would be for the greater good of the world as a whole.
Tammy
|