Exposing Illegal Wet Markets

Stopping future viruses before it's too late

By Troy Castillo

Reporter Our world has been through many challenges in the past year. Major disasters like Wildfire’s and the global pandemic which is known as Covid-19, the world was struck out of nowhere causing nearly 3.6 million human deaths worldwide. Not many people know what caused this virus to rapidly spread around the world but for those who know there are what's called “wet markets” selling unprocessed meat such as Wildlife, bats, turtles, cats, dogs etc..

“In my opinion wet markets are just a quicker way for people, usually in China, to make quick money. Some are beneficial because it could be a cheap way for a family to buy food for the week but, all in all, I strongly believe that it is very unhealthy and unsafe. A lot of wet markets have no packaging and the goods usually come without certifications or stamps to indicate that they comply with national food safety standards,” said sanger high student Mia Cruz.

Many of these come from the wild, and many of the animals are endangered. These kinds of problems happen from deforestation and people building, taking out the wildlife leaving them nothing. The wildlife has no other choice but to move into the city leaving them an open target to human life to be caught and sold for food or for trade.

“The illegal wildlife trade is one of the world's most pervasive illegal trades and, along with the legal wildlife trade, is a major driving force pushing many endangered species to the brink of extinction. It would be a tragedy if we lost any of these species - from pangolins to tigers. You can find out more about the illegal wildlife trade at TRAFFIC.org,” said conservation biologist Joshua Powell.

Continuing the illegal wildlife trade will allow many wildlife kept in close proximity, once caught and put in cages. The longer that those animals are together in cages, the chances are higher that one of the animals will have an infection or parasite that can be passed down to all the animals who are caged together . Once the animal is killed to be sold that person will cause a zoonotic disease, the animal then will transfer to the human causing cross contamination when they consume. That is how easy we can as a world cause another future global pandemic.

“I think it's important to remember that this isn't just an issue in other countries but that it's a worldwide problem including within the USA. There are wet markets within the USA as well, most major cities like New York, San Francisco and everywhere in between have some form of wet market (transport to wet markets is thought to be how the invasive bullfrog ended up in California!). But a way that animals are being mistreated besides wet markets is large scale factory farming - animals crowded in together in unsanitary conditions, without adequate spacing between them, combined with overuse of antibiotics create a devastating environment for the animals and a fertile breeding ground for disease some of which may be passed on to people,” said Anton Sorokin .

The U.S is known for having these types of wet markets for selling and slaughtering animals, and also being part of the illegal wildlife trade. Soon there will be a new virus formed in the United States because of these open air markets being allowed to be open and animal life will soon be at a decline of extinction.

“I strongly believe that wet markets could’ve been the cause of Covid-19. For multiple reasons. First, their fish and meat aren’t approved by any national food safety standard. Secondly, Most of their fish or animals could be days old and you won’t know because none of them are labeled and the owner isn’t going to tell you because the main point of their shop is to make money,’’ said Cruz.

These wet markets are open air, meaning nothing is around is separating the animals being killed from the ones alive. The animals who are being slaughtered in these work conditions will allow parasites and diseases to spread throughout each wet market forming new viruses.

“The origins of COVID-19 are still unknown. What we do know is that COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease. Wet markets are particularly dangerous sites for the emergence of zoonotic diseases, because of the conditions where live animals are being kept in close proximity to humans and human food. That meant that early attention focused on the Wuhan South China Seafood Market in Wuhan, China. While there is a lack of evidence to support this theory and further work needs to be done in China to uncover how COVID-19 first emerged, wet markets (particularly those involving live wild animals) could certainly pose one potential source of future zoonotic pandemics - so it's important that worldwide, and particularly in countries like China where they are common, that there is much better regulation and enforcement of regulation, dealing with these sites,” said conservation biologist Joshua Powell.

Even though wet markets are one of the potential reasons for Covid-19, it is important to know how wet markets form these kinds of viruses and how easy it is these viruses to spread to humans causing a global pandemic. I’m not saying that wet markets should close down because it is some people's only resource of food, but we need to take precaution on how these wet markets are controlled.

“In order to preserve both wildlife populations as well as human health we must reevaluate our relationship with the natural world. The easiest way to start is to be a conscious consumer right here at home. Be mindful of the ecological footprint of your decisions,” said Sorokin

Overall we can together make a change in this world to be able to live without worrying about another future global pandemic and be able to save many lives of humans and many animal species. In order for change we need to educate others who don’t know what really happens in this world and what causes these types of viruses like Covid-19 and many other viruses that have affected us. Us people can overcome Covid-19 by exposing these wet markets who slaughter these animals in unsanitary conditions to be stopped in order to prevent future pandemics before it's too late.