“The price of the private dining room would be included in the price of the pangolin, along with the rest of the dinner”. In this excerpt, Peirce recounts a trip to Vietnam during which, in the space of 15 minutes in one restaurant, he was offered both of the animals that might be the vectors for SARS-1 and SARS-2 (Covid-19).
Scientists have identified pangolins as the likely source of the coronavirus infection that has brought the world to its knees. In this timely exposé, Richard Peirce unpacks the horrors and dangers of the trade in the enigmatic, little-known mammal. He explains the links between wildlife and Covid-19, details China’s response to the pandemic, and tells the story of a particular pangolin poached in Zimbabwe and brought to South Africa to be traded.
Read the excerpt.
Pangolins: Scales of Injustice is published by Struik Nature