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The Source of the Coronavirus Sparks Debate about Africa’s Appetite for Bushmeat

The Guardian spent the day at Belgian-owned logging camp in Gabon speaking about what the locals feel about bushmeat in the times of COVID-19. Most rural Africans and Asians say “bush” or wild meat is healthier, tastier and often cheaper than the bland meat of most farmed animals like chickens or pigs. The joke among the African loggers in the camp that night was that Asians would eat anything alive in the forest but the squeamish Europeans would eat nothing. Today, as a result of Covid-19 and its suspected origins in a Chinese “wet” market, governments and the World Health Organization are coming under growing pressure from conservationists, vegans, and animal protection, zoo, and welfare groups to not just stop the hunting of all wild animals for food but to end the commercial trade in live animals with a global ban.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN