The all-mighty, arrogant human race is now feeling fragile and scared.
The novel coronavirus epidemic (covid-19) is the latest of a series of zoonotic virus known to be pathogenic in humans and threatens to become a pandemic. Recent coronavirus known to cause disease in human have been the source of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) or MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) . All of them linked to animals that have been exploited by humans.
Pangolin carrying her baby – Picture credit : Associated Press – AP
It seems like the initial covid-19 outbreak had its source in a market in the city of Wuhan, where live animals are kept in deplorable conditions. Cats, dogs, bats, snakes, deers, chickens are jailed and have to watch terrified how they scald, burn alive and kill the other innocent animals, knowing they will suffer the same fate.
Wuhan wet market -Source : Weibo
The pangolin is facing extinction, victim of the “traditional medicine” in China and many other Asian countries. Poachers around the world have made the pangolin the most poached mammal in the world. Of course, is not the only victim of human greed and ignorance. Sharks are also facing extinction, as well as rhinos and elephants which are brutally killed for their fins or horns. Cruel, inhumane, barbaric ludicrous market in a name of a fake medicine, without any scientific evidence.
Factory Farming, antibiotic resistance global warming and prions
Asia is not alone in animal cruelty. Europe and the United States have the largest factory farms, where literally millions of sentient beings are sequestered, enslaved and killed every day.
In the dairy industry, cows are raped, their male baby calves are sent to the slaughter house shortly after birth, and many are kept with spikes around their mouth so they can not drink the milk from their mothers.
The meat and dairy are mass murder industries. They need to optimize the growth of the animal, so the faster they grow, the faster they are slaughtered. To shorten the lifecycle of the animals, they use growth hormones and antibiotics. Literally tons of antibiotic are used, not only for gaining weight, but to fight the diseases the animals carry due to the inhumane conditions under they are kept. That makes the livestock the largest antibiotic market as well as the largest source for antibiotic resistance that has a direct impact on human health.
Ironically, animal based diet is not only unnecessary in humans, but also unhealthy. Consumption of dairy products and meat leads to cardiovascular disease and different types of cancer. This fact is irrefutable. For many years the meat and dairy industry has been portraying a false reality about the health benefits of animal based diet. The lobby was such that even penetrated medical schools and the scientific literature. Now we know it has been a lie.
In an effort to optimize the “production” cycle, cows – herbivore animals – had been feed with animal byproducts. This anti-natural practice led to the bovine spongiform disease, a devastating prion disease, invariably fatal. Many people, specially in Europe have succumbed to Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD) after eating meat of infected cows, and millions of cows put to death feared they carry the prion.
But that is not all. Factory farming is the leading source of global warming and deforestation. According to the Humane Society, factory farming accounts for 34% of methane (CH4) emissions, which has twenty times the global warming effect than carbon dioxide (CO2)[1] . Deforestation in the Amazon is happening at the highest rate. Amazon forests are being burnt to plant soy, and millions and millions of tons of precious natural resources like water is being wasted to livestock.
“The revenge of the Pangolin” actually represents the revenge of all species who have been exploited by the human being. It is the response of Mother Nature to our senseless acts, based on greed and ignorance that are leading the human race to self destruction. It would almost seem a curse has been put on humanity for the complete disrespect of other sentient beings and Nature.
The novel Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic is the latest Nature response to the arrogant, ignorant, greedy, now scared to death humanity. It is a way of telling us that we are victims of our own evil actions.
I am still optimistic, but the time for acting is now.We should start by being humble. We have to honestly ask for forgiveness to all other species, and start a new empathetic, compassionate relationship with them.
Instead of walking around wearing (mostly useless) masks, we must take immediate action, and the action is not just asking the scientific community to look for a vaccine, which would come late for many, and won’t work for the next strain. The action must be sustainable in the long term.
Governments and organizations such United Nations and World Health Organization should immediately put to stop to factory farming, meat and dairy industries. They must ban poaching or animal markets anywhere in the World, and impose the highest penalties the countries who don’t comply. In parallel, they need to promote sustainable, organic agriculture practices. Governments should also focus on improving the education system where children learn, first and foremost, how to become kinder, compassionate human beings.
We, as individuals, must stop being part of this wicked industry. These cruel economies based on animal suffering won’t survive if they don’t have clients. On of the most important actions you can do is to change to a plant-based diet. You have the facts now, there is no excuse.
Be kind to all kind. Be vegan. For the animals, for the planet, for your health.
1.- Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Animal Agriculture. https://www.humanesociety.org/sites/default/files/archive/assets/pdfs/farm/hsus-fact-sheet-greenhouse-gas-emissions-from-animal-agriculture.pdf
2.- Preserving Antibiotics, Rationally . Aidan Hollis, Ziana Ahmed.- The New England Journal of Medicine, Dec. 2013 . https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1311479
