EXPLORING NATURE: AWFUL EDIBLES

One serious threat to wildlife these days comes from hungry humans. People not only eat plants and farmraised animals, they also chow down on assorted wildlife, including monkeys, bats and certain rare birds.

For example, in Myanmar and Bangladesh, people kill thousands of shorebirds from August to April each year. They use nets to capture the birds and then either eat them or take them to market.

A tiny spoon-billed sandpiper reportedly sells for the equivalent of 25 cents.

One of the rarest birds in the world, the spoon-billed sandpiper breeds in the Siberian Arctic. These remarkable birds now are on the brink of extinction. And still they are sold for a quarter at certain markets.

Various pandemics have started from the so-called “wet” markets in China, where live birds, bats and other wildlife are sold for food. The deadly coronavirus is only the latest deadly pathogen to spring from this lethal breeding ground.

I sympathize with hungry people and realize I am extremely fortunate to be free of hunger.

But I wish there was a better solution than eating bats, monkeys and endangered birds. Maybe the resulting pandemic is Nature’s way of telling us to change our ways.