Wildlife Commodification: The Relationship Between Exotic Species and Pathogen Transmission
The COVID-19 virus has taken our economical, societal, and even natural world by storm. People have lost their main source of income, opportunities for face-to-face interaction, and the environment has suffered from an increase in poaching activity.
Ecotourism is at an all time low as potential travellers are encouraged to stay at home and avoid spreading the virus to other countries. Before COVID, tourists and rangers alike shielded at-risk species from being trophy hunted. Now that many areas lack the tourists to monitor any local poachers as well as fund wildlife management, animals all around the world are vulnerable to commodification to an alarming extent. Reservations are making much less money from tourism, while the expenses required to safeguard endangered species are rising. People are being laid off left and right; this has also led to not just a thinner wall of security for existing animals, but a surge in hunting for economic stability.
This is not to say that all species have faced negative impacts as a result of the virus. Many populations have been thriving in spaces where humans are now absent, known as the “refuge effect”. The media has been very insistent on focusing on the pandemic’s silver lining, specifically news surrounding the environment. Wild boars in Barcelona, turkeys in Boston, peacocks in Mumbai, and the coyotes strolling through San Francisco are all examples of animals existing in the urban landscapes they normally wouldn’t be seen in. Photographs of the clear water in Venice, Italy went viral and falsely implied the emergence of dolphins. These insinuations that “nature is healing” due to decreased human activity is not universally the case. While some species have benefitted from less ecotourism and urban bustling, many animals have not faced the same luck.
A relevant example can be found with the rhinoceros population in South Africa. Rhinos are being poached in areas where they haven’t historically been, regions that would normally be tourist hotspots. The rhino horn is stolen, commodified, and then bought to display wealth. It is often used in traditional Chinese medicine and is believed to treat fever and pains with its high levels of keratin. In the last decade, nine thousand rhinoceros have been poached. The situation did not get any better once funding from tourists was lost and employees were no longer paid to oversee the conservatories and private lands in which rhinoceroses reside. This proves we need to diversify the ways in which conservation organizations make money. Without tourism, reserves are hurting and lack a reliable source of income.
The topic of poaching is not a simple one. It seems like common sense to not shoot an individual of an already-threatened species. So why do people continue to do it? Social and environmental issues are not mutually exclusive. They are often intertwined and in this situation, poaching is connected to local economies. COVID-19 has crippled the job market worldwide and people are now more willing to take risks in order to support themselves financially. These risks include consequences of illegal hunting and trading of exotic animals. People are migrating towards rural areas and out of cities as they lose work, which drives them to rely directly on natural resources.
The conservation of species demands attention towards the communities that inhabit the same territories as poached animals. Although it can be a malicious act coming from an eagerness to assert dominance upon nature, local poachers usually do so to make ends meet. A large goal that many non-profit organizations have is to support and empower communities. Agricultural techniques can be improved in order for local economies to withstand future catastrophic events like the current pandemic. A way to fight poaching is to cultivate methods in order for all existing resources to be used efficiently and strategically. Developing ways to achieve higher yields of livestock and restore degraded grasslands is a step towards minimizing the need for one to sell animals for profit.
We must remember what got us into this pandemic in the first place. According to Quinney, research shows that 70% of emerging infectious diseases came from wild animals in recent decades – including SARS, HIV and Ebola. Zoonotic diseases, ones transmitted from animals to humans, are predicted to become more common as our economy becomes more globalized. As habitats around the globe become more and more fragmented as a result of humans’ development expansion, animals will be displaced from their biological communities. Human-animal interactions will increase and the chance for another lethal epidemic will climb over time. Poaching is included in this subject of concern, because association with meat is one of the most common ways to spread pathogens. Zoonotic diseases will only spread more in the future, so we as a society must not see nature as something to exploit and start strictly enforcing laws to effectively protect wildlife.
Our destructive relationship with nature must be re-evaluated in order to protect the pangolins, leopards, tigers, elephants, and countless other species that face the end of a barrel every day. Illegalizing trophy hunting is not the sole ticket to a perfect world where poaching is a thing of the past. We must tackle the deep-seeded issues head on, for this issue is not black and white. It calls for an interdisciplinary understanding of human-nature interactions, one that is aware of ecological and social impacts.
