The Chinese medicine market creates an enormous demand for animal parts to be illegally trafficked across borders. Not only this, but they are putting a greater strain on conservation workers by inciting illegal poaching of endangered species. Every poaching problem the world’s most iconic animals face, can trace the source of its problem to the hocus, nonsense, quack healers exploiting the desperation of others. 

Now, with the topicality of the Corona virus, we can again point our fingers back towards these same ‘mystic‘ frauds. As quoted by the BBC, ‘Pangolins smuggled into China were carrying viruses closely related to the one sweeping the world (COVID-19). Pangolins themselves are threatened with extinction, yet the greed of these ‘magic‘ practitioners, blinds them from considering the fate of this protected species. In fact they’re the world’s most trafficked wild mammal. It is that same greed which was responsible for the transmission of COVID-19 from bats to people. The same greed which has caused a near global shutdown.  

This requires urgent action. It isn‘t a call to ban legal trade, but the backhand, slimy manner that these goods are imported. There also needs to be a closer surveillance on the species crossing all borders as well as the diseases they might be carrying. 

Currently, FDA regulations, the US restrictions and European committee are attempting to suppress this market, but harsher changes must be installed to avoid another global catastrophe on the scale of COVID-19. Imagine if the bats weren‘t carrying COVID-19 but another virus with more severe symptoms- one which was equally dangerous to all members of society. We could be looking at a mass extinction all of our own making.

In the long term, attitudes must be changed. Without customers, the market dies. This comes with responsible education about health care, biology and immunology but in the short term we need decisions.