THE first 41 victims of the novel coronavirus had one thing in common: more than half of them had either worked at, or recently visited, a market in Wuhan, China, which traded in live animals. While the original source of Covid-19 is still uncertain, it is largely accepted that the disease was spread to humans via an animal host. At first, experts suspected bats to be the potential carriers. Later, growing evidence suggested that pangolins were the primary source of the outbreak. But even without clear answers, it is evident that stricter controls need to be enforced on the wildlife industry and the illegal trade of live animals and animal parts for food, medicine, clothing, decoration or research purposes. The infamous market in Wuhan has now been sealed, and China has imposed a ban on trading and eating ‘non-aquatic’ animals. However, while wildlife conservationists welcome the ban, those paying attention to the fine print have pointed out ‘loopholes’ which would allow traffickers to continue bad practices, potentially endangering humanity once again. After all, Covid-19 is not the first zoonotic disease to rattle the 21st century. Both SARS and Ebola were traced to animals, as was HIV, which largely terrorised the previous century.

Even if the pangolin is found not to be the source of the recent pandemic, there must be greater intercontinental efforts to uphold an international ban on the trade of the critically endangered species — often referred to as “the world’s most trafficked mammal” — poached for its scales and meat that are in demand in China and parts of Africa. While Pakistan is fortunate to host diverse wildlife, attitudes towards the pangolin range from indifference to fear and demonisation, with several instances of locals attacking and killing the notoriously shy animal. Others try to profit off it. On Thursday, for instance, wildlife officials seized a pangolin from poachers in Punjab. In the midst of a pandemic and a climate crisis, if greater sense does not set in, perhaps we are doomed.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2020