Instagram – April 7th, 2020

We have been posting a little about pangolins being the believed ‘cause’ of the current coronavirus outbreak, however this isn’t necessarily the case. Wild animals when left to their own devices do not pass on diseases to human beings. Instead, epidemics like this are caused when the delicate balance of nature is upset by something – and sadly, that something is usually human beings.⁣

@wildaidafrica sum it up extremely well below:⁣

“Wild species, when left unharmed in intact habitat don’t pass on diseases to people. Left to its own, nature maintains an exquisite balance that keeps everything in check. It’s when humans start to upset this balance – by razing forests for instance – for short-term gain that things go horribly awry.⁣

We’ve all already witnessed and experienced this to some extent before Coronavirus brought the world to a grinding halt. When was the last time before this that you saw the skies in Kampala look so clear? Remember when Cape Town came close to running dry? And the devastating cyclone that killed thousands in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe? The wild fires that rage seemingly everywhere you look? The food shortages and locust plagues?⁣

You can draw a straight line between all these events and human behaviour, which often has an outsized impact on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. So as we consider what world we might want to live in when we emerge from the shadows of this epidemic, let’s imagine one where we talk not just of a better future for humanity, but for every creature and plant and forest and wetland and desert and savannah on this planet.” ⁣

Photo by @pangolinafrica

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