The hunting and extinction of species due to these ridiculous primitive beliefs is utterly repugnant in this day and age where we teeter on the brink of environmental disaster and mass extinctions with climate and other causes.
Exchanging true fascinating living treasures of earth evolved over millions of years all the way back to this planets creation for some baubles and to satisfy their tummies or supposedly treat some fucking wart, or even save them from a heart attack, really, those selfish beings are worth the torture and extinctions ?
It also simply hurts and inspires rage to truly consider and witness the absolutely mind boggling levels of cruelty shown in the hunting, keeping and processing of these animals. How is one to like humans that think themselves so superior and special over everything else that they may be allowed to do anything? Its the worst of "humanity" and we can be well glad to loose that aspect of it.
Unfortunately may these Chinese with disregard and 0 empathy for animals be a minority or not of, the scale of the country make it too many by far.
Yes, they do.
I've eaten camel. It was offered during multiple meals to us during the trip. Seems somewhat common.
Then explain how MERS appeared. Did people of the Middle East suddenly have a gourmet taste for eating camels one day?
There is no scientific evidence to support this!
Instead, this exposes the deep-seated biases and prejudices, that Westerners (white people) have of Easterners, and specifically, the Chinese, in this case. It also didn’t help that the Trump Administration went on a negative media assault for the past 3 years to demonize the Chinese, so they are now an easy scapegoat for all troubles in the world. This really does not help the situation.
Now, how about a different theory?
Animals normally develop immunity to their environment, and from the viruses that exist in that area. This is the law of natural selection in play. Those that survive, go on and reproduce, and carry the antibodies to protect their offspring. Those that don’t, will die off, and their bodies will be eaten by vultures.
I suspect that the coronavirus mutated and appeared, because of an animal from one part of the world, was shipped to another part of the world, where it didn’t have natural immunity to the diseases of that region. In this case, a bat carrying the virus.
Maybe an animal from Africa, was transported to Asia, where it would have never traveled there by itself. That animal got sick, and triggered a mutation, which infected a human handling it, which mutated again, and infected another human, and now, we have an outbreak.
The key to understanding this may be in how the MERS virus appeared. It’s believed to come from bats, which infected a camel, which infected a human. Do people in the Middle East eat camels? No, I don’t think so.
So why should SARS and this COVID-19 virus be any different?
Limiting the transport of live animals, to different areas of the world, should help minimize future virus outbreaks. But, humans have been transporting live animals all over the world, for hundreds or thousands of years, ever since boats were first invented. So I suspect, that it is only a matter of time before another novel coronavirus appears. And global warming may also be playing a factor too, in triggering viruses and diseases in nature, that had previously been dormant.
This is HN. Most people here are scientifically and technically educated. Do your part. Analyze the situation scientifically. Change the narrative. Otherwise, we risk devolving into our deep seated fears and prejudices. We lose our humanity in the process.