COVID-19 and Wildlife Conservation
The entire world's population has been forced into some form of lockdown or isolation because of COVID-19, and globally there are nearly 20 million people infected and over 700,000 dead (August 2020). For too many, it’s been a time of hardship and pain. Legit businesses around the world are awaiting an uncertain fate, and yet, the business of killing endangered animals continues to be very lucrative; valued upwards of 20 billion USD annually, it is one of the five most profitable global crimes.
What is Illegal Wildlife Trade? What Happened?
For years, the illegal wildlife trade has ravaged Africa and Asia, decimating our wildlife populations and destroying our natural heritage. Fueled by the unprecedented appetite for endangered animals' body parts, this illegal market is driving the global poaching crisis. In turn, poaching has silently brought the rhino, elephant, tiger, and pangolin to the brink of extinction for their horns, tusks, bones, and scales, respectively. Ripple effects are occurring all around us in increasing paroxysms of conflicts between people and wildlife.
The global scale of the COVID-19 pandemic is indicative of the revolving door between the illegal wildlife trade and eminent risks to human health, and economies. The new coronavirus is a zoonotic disease; an infectious disease caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites with cross-species contamination. Ebola and salmonellosis are known examples.
So What Just Happened?
COVID-19 sprang forth from a legal wildlife wet market in China; a market in which animals are slaughtered on site. These massive wet markets are a poorly regulated industry of commercial wildlife farming in China and Southeast Asia and often provide the perfect cover for trading in illegal wildlife.
Combine such places with the following conditions and it becomes easier to visualize just how much needs to change:
Gao Fu, the director of China Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the origin of the new coronavirus is the wildlife sold illegally in Wuhan seafood market;
Genetic analysis pinpoints the culprit of COVID-19 being the pangolin;
Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world and accounts for 20% of the illegal wildlife trade;
The working hypothesis is that the pangolin most likely contracted it from a bat;
Imagine a pangolin eating termites under a dead log, where bats are roosting, and picks up the virus;
Then, a poacher traps the pangolin and sends it off to the market;
The pangolin is then killed by a wet market trader, during the process the trader is exposed to its blood and gets some of it in their eye;
Fast-forward 3 months a third of the global population is in lockdown (in fact, the number of people currently in lockdown exceeds the entire earth’s population during World War II), health systems are at the brink of collapsing, schools have been shut down, 10 million people have lost their jobs, the GDPs of entire nations are projected to impactfully decrease, household and national debts have increased sharply, and more than 1.34 million people have contracted COVID-19. People are fearful and losing their lives.
Impact of the Lack of Action
No action leads to human trafficking, children being sold into the sex trade, and the COVID-19
More expensive then gold or cocaine in its weight, sophisticated warlords have figured out the most lucrative business; funds from rhino horns and elephant tusks go towards the purchase of illegal rams to create political instability ( Primary examples include: Mugabe’s wife funded her presidential campaign in Zimbabwe solely based on the profits of ivory sales, and the funding of more than half of annual budget of Al-Shabab operational budget). Additionally, I have personally talked to rhino horn smugglers who have admitted the link to human trafficking and the sex trade. The effects of the global poaching crisis have now spilled-over to health risks.
This HAS happened Before: We need to change the existing system to avoid the next pandemic
This is not the first time national and international officials have tried to contain risks associated with the illegal wildlife trade. In 2003, civets were culled in large numbers and the selling of snakes was briefly banned after they transferred the SARS virus to humans. But today, dishes containing both these animals are eaten across China.
In other words, by doing nothing, we not only allow such trades to continue, but we also place ourselves and loved ones in high health and financial risks. An extremely dangerous risk is derived from the plausibility of driving the markets for illegal trade of wild animals for consumption and medicine even further undergrown entails: outbreaks will likely begin in rural communities, rather than markets. And it is plausible to assume that these cases will go unreported until it becomes widespread.
CBB’s Promise and Response
The impact of mother earth is enormous. Nature is not stopping during this time. Our earth is taking a slow deep breath from our constant activity. But it has also become most vulnerable. Due to the lockdown itself and the halt of tourism-generated revenue, poaching rates have skyrocketed.
Conservation Beyond Border is an international 501(c)3 not-for-profit working to save the world’s most iconic species teetering on the brink of extinction across Africa & Asia. CBB is still committed to WILDLIFE and fostering a caring and respectful relationship between wildlife and people. l have been leading comprehensive taskforces to combat the illegal wildlife trade. we are fighting to save endangered species like Elephants, Rhinos, Tigers, and Pangolins, so they can share our world with future generations.
Case study rhino: The formula is straightforward: place a value on live wildlife while removing the incentive to poach. CBB has played an integral role in local capacity building via wildlife-based sustainable livelihoods. Wildlife rangers are committed to protecting wildlife and are being rewarded for doing so. At the same time, we remove the primary incentive to poach. By safely removing their horn, we ensure that the animals are not slaughtered while a poacher hacks at their face in order to claim it. Additional strategies involve anti-poaching education, animal monitoring, and habitat assessments.
Life as we know it has changed. I am part of an impactful taskforce. My role is to mathematical quantify the impact of COVID-19 on three temporal scales: immediate (now-3 months), intermediate (3-6 months), and long term (6-12 months), subject to three issues: Impact on community health, well-being, livelihoods and food security, Impact on tourism and hospitality industry and Impact on conservation management, wildlife protection and security.
What NOW?
Over the past few weeks, I have heard conversations about the challenges embedded in social distancing and confinement. When thinking about the effects of isolation on us, please pause to consider the livelong effects on captive and trafficked animals.
The earth’s population is 7.8 billion and headed to 12, increasing human density that causes massive migration and encroachment into areas that have been wildlife havens for millennia;
Until now, all of Earth's catastrophes were regionally confined. Primary examples include typhoons, tsunamis, and even Ebola.
The breakdown in respect for nature and wildlife is destroying the very nature that provides our life support and, in the process, creating ideal opportunities for animal-borne viruses to jump from declining wildlife populations to a superabundant and readily available new host—humans.
The horseshoe bat is not legally protected. But the pangolins are. In fact, Pangolins have CITES the highest level of protection, yet they are the world's most heavily trafficked mammal. This is evident by their listing under CITES and were uplisted to Appendix I in 2016, often called CITES the highest level of protection. Yet, from 2016-2019, we saw a record 206 tons of pangolin scales seized and confiscated.
China’s Response and Underlying Beliefs
Putting aside all political conversations, China has banned the trade and consumption of live wild animals for food. You may think that this is good news, however, it is filled with loopholes. China's National Health Commission is recommending injections that contain bear bile powder, as a COVID-19 treatment. Secreted by the liver and stored in the gallbladder, bile from bears is extracted on a daily basis from bears that are confined to cages. This recommendation highlights loopholes in the ban and the promotion of trade in animal parts.
In order to effectively stop the poaching crisis, one needs to understand the underlying belief system of the demand market. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) holds that by consuming a powerful animal, one consumes the animal's potency. However, pharmaceutical companies have proved that the primary chemical of rhino horns is keratin and DO NOT ACT as aphrodisiacs, as well as the Calcium-rich tiger bones DO NOT lend speed to its consumer.
Given all this, we cannot afford to stop our efforts and impact to stop the illegal wildlife trade at its source: poaching. Our anti-poaching units are led by dedicated rangers who place their lives on the line daily.
CBB’s Final Thoughts
We are excited to announce that we will take this time during lockdown to plan the building of our Rhino Camp in Kza-Zulu-Natal. We also have some new projects and proposals, and emails that we are finally able to get to.
Conservation Beyond Borders is excited to confirm that our ongoing projects are still up and running.
Our ecologists are monitoring the wellbeing of rhinos and elephants from satellite equipment.
Our rangers and K-9 have not given up. Due to South Africa’s and India’s lockdown, we have skeleton units in the field. The burden of deterring poachers now falls upon a limited number of anti-poaching personae
Our vets have not given up. The intrinsic value of wildlife is rooted in the hearts of our vets. They are