Corona Daily 436: The Wild Vicious Circle

Wild animals now face two dangers. One is from organized poaching criminal gangs. They sense the opportunities presented by the worldwide lockdown.

The African sanctuaries and national parks are shut. Safari tourism has ended. Police are busy dealing with Covid-19. Rangers are not paid their salaries. The biggest boon for the poachers is the absence of tourists. Each year, 70 million tourists visit Africa, generating nearly $200 billion, 8.5% of African GDP. Those tourists, along with their guide escorts unknowingly act as the guardian angels of these wild animals. Tourists are a much stronger deterrent for poachers than law enforcement.

Poaching gangs can now recruit poor people more easily. A starving ranger can make an excellent poacher. In places like the Okavango Delta lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and cape buffalos are now at constant peril. Poaching gangs in Mozambique have started operations in South Africa’s Kruger national park. After a long time, Kenya reported their first elephant poaching for ivory in April. Poaching of elephants, rhinos and big cats is expected to rise further in Africa and Asia. A protracted pandemic will make the situation severe in South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Namibia and Tanzania.

Cambodia has reported large scale deforestation caused by illegal logging (cutting of trees and stealing timber) and increase in the sale of bushmeat.

*****

That is the second big danger. Bushmeat is the term Africa uses for meat of wild animals used for food. Illegal African wildlife markets can sell the meat of Chimpanzees, monkeys, crocodiles, porcupines, pangolins, squirrels, bats, civets, mongoose, snakes, rats and many others. Elephant meat is a prized delicacy in central Africa. A typical forest elephant weighs 5000-6000 pounds and produces around 1000 pounds of edible meat. A poacher can earn $180 for the ivory, and $6000 for the meat. The average income in the Congo Basin, where elephants are poached, is $1 per day.  

*****

Since March, there is a worldwide urban to rural reverse migration. Rural people have lost their jobs and livelihoods and returned to villages and forests. This process is more pronounced in the developing nations of Asia and Africa. A famished person can’t be expected to think of morality or the environment. If governments don’t help the starving, they will engage in logging and wildlife hunting. In Africa, 301 mammal species, including primates, ungulates, bats, marsupials, rodents, carnivores, and pangolins are endangered by hunting for bushmeat. A 2-3 year pandemic with no tourists, and little patrolling will make many of them extinct.

*****

The virus epidemic sets in process a vicious circle. It forces starving people to kill and eat wild animals. It allows black markets to sell meat of a variety of wild species. This contact with the wild animals increases the chances of another Coronavirus transmission.

The only solution, if there is one, is for the governments to breed and supply poultry and fish on a large scale. They are considered safe for human consumption and contact. Chicken and fish are capable of saving elephants and rhinos.  

Ravi