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Nature

The hill district of Assam, Dima Hasao has received the season’s first spell of snowfall.

The snowfall has whitewashed the green hills of the district.

Dima Hasao has seen snowfalls at Kipeilo village, 75 km away from Haflong, bringing cheer to the villagers in the New Year.

The Zemi Naga-dominated village under Mahur police station is situated in the Laisong council constituency.

According to the villagers, they have witnessed snowfall for the last one week.

Snowfall has engulfed the entire area.

The people of Kipeilo village, which is located near the Barail range of hills, are excited to witness snowfalls in their village.

However, snowfall in the village is not new for its residents.

The people of Kipeilo village have been witnessing snowfall for the last several years.

Due to snowfall, the waters in ponds have frozen completely.

But the news of snowfall in Kipeilo is yet to get highlighted.

The NC Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC) and the state tourism department can highlight the snowfall in Kipeilo while promoting the district as an important tourist destination of Assam.

It is expected that tourists would visit the village to have a glimpse of snowfall and Kipeilo may become a tourist hotspot.

According to sources, snowfall has also been reported in Thuruk village in the south-west part of Dima Hasao district.

Thuruk village is 112 km away from Haflong, the district headquarters of Dima Hasao and is dominated by Biate community.

Environment, Nature

Bird Watching, Cherry Blossoms: PM Modi On Connect With Nature

PM Modi advised everyone to connect with bird watching as well and added that he also recently spent time with birds in Gujarat’s Kevadia.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 71st radio programme Mann ki Baat today spoke about how our lives have taken a drastic turn due to the coronavirus pandemic but has brought us closer to nature. He said the pandemic has given us an opportunity to experience nature in a “new manner”.
PM Modi spoke about cherry blossoms first. As we step into winter, the prime minister said, the internet is abound with photos of beautiful cherry blossoms, found distinctly in Japan. However, the photos that have caught the attention of many are not from Japan, the PM adds.

“These are pictures of Shillong of our Meghalaya. These cherry blossoms have further enhanced the beauty of Meghalaya,” PM Modi said.

PM Modi said that our perspective in observing nature has also undergone a change.

November 12 marked the 125th birth anniversary of renowned ornithologist Dr Salim Ali also known as the “Birdman of India”. Praising Dr Ali highly for his illustrious life and career, PM Modi said his work attracted a large number of bird watchers to India.

“I have always been an ardent admirer of people who are fond of bird watching. With utmost patience, for hours together from morn to dusk, they can do bird watching, enjoying the scenic beauty of nature; they also keep passing on the knowledge gained to us,” PM Modi said.

He advised everyone to connect with bird watching as well and added that he also recently spent time with birds in Gujarat’s Kevadia.

The Prime Minister had visited Geodesic Aviary Dome in Kevadia late in October and shared a number of photos from the visit.

He added that time spent among birds will bring people closer to nature.

“It will also inspire you towards the environment,” PM Modi added.(NDTV)

Nature

Mystery of Meghalaya’s glowing mushrooms

A mushroom documentation project in the forests of Northeast India has revealed not only 600 varieties of fungi, but also led to a new discovery: a bioluminescent — or light emitting — variety of mushroom. The new species — named Roridomyces phyllostachydis — was first sighted on a wet August night near a stream in Meghalaya’s Mawlynnong in East Khasi Hills district and later at Krang Shuri in West Jaintia Hills district. It is now one among the 97 known species of bioluminescent fungi in the world.

How did the scientists chance upon the luminous mushrooms?

In August 2018, Assam-based conservation NGO Balipara Foundation collaborated with scientists from the Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences on a project to assess the fungal biodiversity of four states in Northeast India: Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. This particular mushroom was spotted on the Meghalaya leg of their expedition.

“Whenever we go mushroom documenting, we always ask locals if there are bioluminescent mushrooms around,” said team photographer Stephen Axford, who has documented fungi over the world for 15 years. “In Meghalaya, we did the same, and to our surprise, they said ‘Of course, we do’.”

The villagers then guided the team down a dark forest path, towards a stream. “We could see tiny pinpricks of light along the way,” said Axford, who set up a small outdoor studio to photograph the mushrooms in the dark, “They were striking.”

Later, on closer examination, and post sequencing the ITS gene of the mushroom, the researchers found that the mushroom belonged to the Roridomyces genus, and was altogether a new species, named after the host bamboo tree, Phyllostachys, from where it was first collected.

The research results were published in the botany journal Phytotaxa under the title “Roridomyces phyllostachydis (Agaricales, Mycenaceae), a new bioluminescent fungus from Northeast India”.

Nature

Kashmir to Sikkim: Suffron finds a new home

By Nitesh R. Pradhan

Saffron or Kesar, a high-value herb traditionally cultivated in Kashmir, may have found a new home in Sikkim.

The plant is a member of lilies and grows only in Pampore (Kashmir). NECTAR and Sikkim University explored the possibility of its cultivation in Sikkim in a joint effort.

The director-general of the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR), Arun K. Sarma, approached the vice-chancellor of Sikkim University, Avinash Khare, with the proposal to carry out a cultivation trial in Sikkim through scientific intervention.

Sarma took the initiative and NECTAR approved a pilot project to Swami Satyananda ashram of Ranchi to carry out the project at Sikkim Central University Campus.

Under the leadership of Khare, a team of experts from the Department of Horticulture (Niladri Bag, Laxuman Sharma and Rajesh Kumar) and the Department of Botany (Shanti S. Sharma, Dhani R. Chhetri, Santosh K. Rai and Arun Chettri) of Sikkim University conducted trial cultivation at Sikkim University Campus at Yangang in South Sikkim during the last week of September 2020.

The day-to-day monitoring of cultivation was carried out by experienced farmers from Kashmir, who also transported over 100 kilograms of saffron bulbs for cultivation under the same project.

Constant care led to the sprouting of bulbs, and subsequently, the plants flowered. This is a significant development and the first successful cultivation of Saffron in Sikkim and possibly in North-East India.

According to a seasoned saffron farmer, the size, colour and quality of the plants and flowers are remarkably similar to those in Kashmir. This success sufficiently shows the possibility of cultivation of Saffron in Sikkim.

However, further work on the project requires detailed scientific evaluation of diverse parameters for commercial and societal applications which would be undertaken in the next stage.

(Edited by Christopher Gatphoh)

Nature

Golden Tiger of Kaziranga: It is natural in Assam

There’s Only One Golden Tiger Recorded In The Wild This Century And She’s In Kaziranga, India

A lot of exotic species occur in the wild that are native to some countries and not found anywhere else. What is rare is for an animal to be the only one recorded at a particular place, in the entire century.

Mubina Akhtar a wildlife activist says this colour is natural in Assam and most of tigers in Assam are found golden and it mostly adopts the colour of deers.
MAYURESH HENDRE writes

You know that tigers are an endangered species and India has been making efforts to preserve the species. What many might not know is that India is also the home of a Golden Tiger that too the only one recorded in the entire world in this century.

IFS Parveen Kaswan shared images clicked by Wildlife photographer Mayuresh Hendre of the majestic Golden Tiger at the Kaziranga National Park. The images were clicked some time ago but after being shared on Twitter they are going viral.

Nature

WHO observes what happens when an airborne organism enters human body?

WHO has acknowledged there’s emerging evidence of airborne transmission of the novel coronavirus. Here’s what happens when an airborne microorganism enters your body.
WHO admits COVID-19 may be airborne: What happens when an airborne organism enters your body?
WHO admits COVID-19 may be airborne: What happens when an airborne organism enters your body?Photo Credit: iStock ImagesKey HighlightsThe WHO has admitted that the airborne spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus cannot be ruled outA group of scientists has written to the UN health agency saying there’s evidence that coronavirus in smaller particles in the air can infect peopleScientists have revealed that COVID-19 can affect the entire body, and not just the respiratory system
New Delhi: After insisting for months that the novel coronavirus is transmitted via respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday said that the airborne spread of COVID-19 cannot be ruled out, especially in public settings. Responding to question on airborne transmission of COVID-19, the UN health agency acknowledged there’s emerging evidence that the SARS-Cov-2 virus can be spread by tiny particles suspended in the air. An airborne disease is any condition caused by a microbe transmitted through the air.

WHO’s admission came after a group of 239 scientists from 32 countries accused the agency of underestimating the possibility of airborne spread of coronavirus, which has so far infected about 11,693,770 people and caused at least 539,620 deaths worldwide. WHO’s officials have, however, cautioned that the evidence is preliminary and further assessment is required.

“The possibility of airborne transmission in public settings – especially in very specific conditions, crowded, closed, poorly ventilated settings that have been described, cannot be ruled out,” Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead for infection prevention and control, said at Tuesday’s briefing in Geneva. he evidence needs to be gathered and interpreted, and we continue to support this.”

“However, the evidence needs to be gathered and interpreted, and we continue to support this,” she added.

Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on the COVID-19 pandemic at the WHO, said the agency would in the coming days publish a scientific brief summarising the state of knowledge on modes of transmission of the virus.

What happens when an airborne microorganism enters your body?

When an airborne pathogen enters your body, it causes an inflammatory reaction of the upper airways, affecting the nose, sinuses, throat and lungs. This may result in nasal congestion, and sore throat. However, some airborne pathogens can attack the heart, kidneys, and nerves – not just the respiratory system. Researchers have found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can damage the entire human body, including the heart, kidneys, liver, nervous system, etc. Experts said the virus triggers an imbalance in the immune response and excessive inflammation, resulting in collateral damage throughout the body.

Basically, an airborne disease can be spread when an infected person sneezes, coughs, talks, or spews up nasal and throat secretions into the air. The microorganisms transmitted airborne – such as bacteria, viruses, fungi – can be spread via fine mist, dust, aerosols, or liquids. Researchers said the aerosolised particles, which may be generated from a source of infection, often remain suspended in the air currents and may travel considerable distances, although many particles drop off within the vicinity. The infected aerosolised particles may be inhaled by susceptible hosts. Research has shown that airborne particles may remain localised to the room or move depending on the airflow. Hence, in some cases where there is inadequate ventilation such as the hospital, the particles may remain in the room and be inhaled by a newly admitted patient.

How to prevent airborne diseases
Some precautions that you can take to reduce the risk of contracting an airborne disease include:

Taking basic measures like frequently washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
Appropriate hand disinfection
Wearing a good face mask/respirator or personalised protection equipment (PPE)
Avoiding or limiting time spent around any patient likely to be a source of infection
Having a negative pressure isolation room
Regular vaccinations against diseases believed to be locally present
The control and prevention of airborne disease transmission require the control of airflow with the use of specially designed ventilator systems apart from taking basic measures. In most cases, antiviral agents and antibiotics are not prescribed borne infections caused by viruses. The management of airborne diseases involves interprofessional teams supported by a set of hospital guidelines and rules.

Nature

What can be better for the soul than logging the first cuckoo of spring?

Rob Penn

The arrival of the first cuckoo from Africa is an important moment in the turning year. Photograph: Bebedi/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Stock Photo
Iheard the first cuckoo on Wednesday evening. I was outside the back door splitting logs when the song floated down from the copse on Bryn Arw, the hill behind our house in the Black Mountains. Cuckoos have been coming to the same copse for as long as we have lived here and I have always written down the date of their arrival from Africa. It is an important moment in the turning year, as the lyrics to the traditional medieval round attest: “Sumer is icumen in/ Lhude sing cuccu.”

My recordings of cuckoos have always been haphazard, though. Some years, because the weather is dreadful or I am working hard and chained to a desk, I fail to get outside. I might first hear the male’s distinctive song, which gives the bird its onomatopoeic name, days after his actual arrival.

Other years, I have been abroad for work. This year, however, I have the correct date. There is no doubt, since every evening for the past four weeks I have been in the garden – weeding the vegetable patch, painting a bench, splitting alder logs and, on occasion, sitting in a chair looking up the hill with pricked ears, waiting for him. The cuckoo arrived on 22 April and I wrote it down in my notebook.
Observing the changing seasons is a fascination as old as the seasons themselves. There is a strange satisfaction in knowing that the arrival of the first cuckoo, with its gratifying intimations of summer round the corner, is a pleasure we partake in with people who lived hundreds and, presumably, thousands of years ago.

The first person to actually write down the times of the recurring natural phenomena that mark spring’s arrival was Robert Marsham, a Norfolk squire. In 1736, he recorded the first swallow, the dates different trees came into leaf, first flowering or blossoming dates, first time he heard frogs croaking and rooks nesting, first appearance of butterflies and the earliest singing of the cuckoo. In all, he recorded 27 seasonal occurrences in what he called his “Indications of Spring”.

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He maintained this record, without interruption, for more than 60 years. It became his life’s work. More remarkably still, successive generations of his family continued the record – until 1958. The field of study the Marshams effectively invented is called phenology.

I am no phenologist. This spring, though, I have become a keen and patient student of nature, with notebook in hand. For the first time in my adult life, I have the hours to sensitively bear witness to the delicate, daily changes. And I have taken the trouble to record them, like Marsham. In our small wood, I have observed the succession of wild flowers, all eager for their moment in the sun before the tree canopy closes over them. The sequence started in early March with lesser celandines and, a few days later, primroses; then came sweet violets, wild daffodils, wood anemones and greater stitchwort, in that order; next, yellow archangel flowered by the stream; last week, red campion, garlic-scented ransoms and bluebells, the wild flower that has the power of Prozac on the British collective consciousness, all bloomed. They have been entered in the notebook.

Sessile oaks coming into leaf.
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‘Sessile oaks are leafing as I write.’ Photograph: Robert Penn
Similarly, there are entries about the progression of leafing trees. Elder and horse chestnut were first, in mid-March. Sycamore, then hawthorn, rowan, silver birch and pedunculate oak followed. Beech, field maple and sessile oak are all leafing as I write. I have logged the conspicuous unfurling of the first hart’s tongue fern and the first broad buckler fern.

The first brimstone and orange tip butterflies are logged. The arrivals of pied flycatchers and willow warblers from sub-Saharan Africa are accounted for. Damson and wild cherry blossom, dandelions, daisies, wasps, red mason bees, nest-building blue tits and song thrushes are all minuted. There are even notes on the time it takes for the alder I have been splitting to oxidise; the process turns the exposed wood a rich orange colour.

In fact, keeping a nature diary is beginning to feel like a chore and I’m still not sure why I am doing it.

Gilbert White, the best-known nature diarist of the 18th century and a correspondent of Marsham, published The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, in 1789, as a weapon in the fight against the “superstitious prejudices” held by the “lower people” of his district in Hampshire.

White, like his brother-in-law, Thomas Barker, who kept a punctilious weather diary for six decades, and Marsham, were part of a new breed of amateur naturalists that emerged towards the end of the Enlightenment era. Keeping a journal became the prevailing method of reducing weather and the natural world to a definitive system.

Today, phenology is even more important than when White and Marsham lived, because of the insight it provides into the effects of climate change. The largest phenology database, part of a project called Nature’s Calendar, is held by the Woodland Trust. Thousands of people add their own recordings to the website every year and the data is used in academic research.

I may add my observations to the database, but citizen science is not the main reason why, this year, I am observing nature with the methodology of an 18th-century country parson. Rather, I am trying to comprehend events by ordering what is around me. As William Faulkner said: “To understand the world, you must first understand a place.” His place was Mississippi, mine is the Black Mountains.

Observing the changing seasons in a diary is also an internally imposed discipline, a form of spiritual self-monitoring, while the storm rages elsewhere. How long the diary will last into summer, I can’t yet tell. For now though, pen poised, I am waiting for the first swallow.

(Rob Penn is the author of The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees)

Cucko


The Guardian

Nature

Eaglenest Bird Festival, a bid to boost ecotourism in Arunachal Pradesh

Guwahati: Come March 22 Arunachal Pradesh is preparing to host a bird festival, atop the blue hills to promote tourism by giving a big push to wildlife conservation. Courtesy Arunachal Pradesh Art & Culture Eco-Tourism Society, this organization dedicated to promote wildlife conservation is holding the festival for three days from March 22 at Rupa and the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in West Kameng district.

According to the organizing secretary Ms. Kesang Khrimey, the event aims at conserving the wildlife with a massive participation of the people and thereby to promote the tourism sector which provides livelihood for many in the state.

Interaction with wildlife experts and tourism entrepreneurs apart from heritage walk and seminars would be the salient features of the event, said Khrimey.

“We have already got confirmation of participation form experts in the field of nature conservation from the country and abroad, including  Dr.Anuj Jain of BirdLife Asia (Singapore), Mr Paul Insua-Cao of Royal Society for Protection of Birds, UK and Director of The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) Dr Deepak Apte”, she added.

Khrimey further said that it would be an occasion for the people of all walks of life to share their views and ideas with the wildlife experts and the tourism entrepreneurs will have the same amount of benefit to boost their means of livelihood.

Nature

rampant biodiversity destruction can spread fatal virus to Human in Northeast Indian region

If illegal wildlife trade and their habitate destruction are not stopped, deadly virus like Corna, Zika, Nipa can be infected to human in northeastern Indian region. Chandan Kumar Duarah, the science editor of Asomiya Pratidin has warned. The outbreak of diseases like corona virus,  hurbouring by wildlife can be spread to human. it has already been confirmed that the corona virusvirus came from wildlife through a Wuhn market of wildlife parts and flesh.

Wildlife poaching and killing taking place in Northeast India and animals and parts have been supplied to Chinese markets for decades. These illegal activities accelerated forest and biodiversity destruction in Assam as well as in the Northeastern Indian region. Habitat loss and wildlife killing has been rampant in Northeastern India, mostly in Assam. Timber logging, road building, tea cultivation expansion, rubber plantation and encroachment are responsible for haitate loss in the region, Duarah said.

If these unlimited activities can’t be stopped, many wildlife will come near human habitat and eventually deadly virus will transmit to human and different animals. There are so many Pangolin and thousands of different species of bats in states of Northeastern India including Assam and many of them were caught and killed illegally to meet the demand of of Chinese mmedicinal demand. It is estimated that around 30,000 pangolins were caught or killed in Northeast India to meet the Chinese medicinal market demand.

Habitat destruction threatens vast numbers of wild species with extinction, including the medicinal plants and animals we’ve historically depended upon for our pharmacopeia. It also forces those wild species that hang on to cram into smaller fragments of remaining habitat, increasing the likelihood that they’ll come into repeated, intimate contact with the human settlements expanding into their newly fragmented habitats. It’s this kind of repeated, intimate contact that allows the microbes that live in their bodies to cross over into ours, transforming benign animal microbes into deadly human pathogens.

As China is battling the outbreak of coronavirus, many studies have been doing the rounds linking the virus with wild animals. Experts with the World Health Organization (WHO) say there’s a high likelihood the new coronavirus came from bats. The Corona virus has so far killed around 2200 people in China and sickening more than 84,000 — eight times the number sickened by SARS.
It is believed that a wildlife market in Wuhan in China could have been the starting point for the outbreak. First infected were those who worked in with sea food animals. So it was assumed to be the virus came from sea animals. A WWF study showed illegal wildlife trade is worth around $20bn per year. It is the fourth biggest illegal trade worldwide, after drugs.
Many in China want the temporary ban on wildlife to be permanent while Chinese leader Xi Jinping said the country should “resolutely outlaw and harshly crack down” on the illegal wildlife trade because of the public health risks it poses. Chinese officials reveal that about 1.5 million markets and online operators nationwide have been inspected since the outbreak of coronavirus and 3,700 have been shut down while around 16,000 breeding sites have been cordoned off.
Many studies revealed that bats host many kind of virus incuding corona. According to a 2017 study, Ebola outbreaks, which have been linked to several species of bats, are more likely to occur in places in Africa that have experienced rampant deforestation. Cutting down the trees bats’ used to forced them to roost in trees in backyards and farms instead, increasing the likelihood that a human might. If someone take a bite of a piece of fruit covered in bat saliva or hunt and slaughter a local bat, exposing herself to the microbes sheltering in the bat’s tissues. It happens by pangolin too. When human catch or touch pangolin flesh, the deadly virus transmit to human in a easy way.
The outbreak of the virus has prompted calls to permanently ban the sale of wildlife but the Chinese government has made it clear the ban would be temporary. Conservtionists and environmentalists had been appealing to stop wildlife markets in Cina, but the Chinese Government had turned a deaf ear. China has not yet pronounced any word of possibility of permanent ban despitecan the pandemic and death of more than two thousands valuable lives. Beijing announced a similar ban in the event of the outbreak of Sars in 2002. However, authorities relaxed the ban and the trade bounced back.
Offcourse the prime suspect is the bat. One now-debunked theory that made the rounds suggested, a snake. That’s not the fault of wild animals. But now the ‘culprit’ is the Pangolin. But people must know that wildlife has been harbouring many kinds of virus ( fatal and non-fatal) for thousands of years without harming to host animals and plants. These virus and microbes has been a crucial part of biodiversity as well as nature for thousands of years. In fact, most of these microbes live harmlessly in these animals’ bodies.
The virus’s animal origin is a critical mystery to solve. But speculation about which wild creature originally harbored the virus obscures a more fundamental source of our growing vulnerability to pandemics: the accelerating pace of habitat loss. Habitat destruction threatens large numbers of species with extinction, including the medicinal plants and animals humankind historically depended upon for our pharmacopeia. The problem is the way that cutting down forests and expanding human habitat and socalled development activities forced come out animal microbes to adapt to the human body.

The epidemiologist Larry Brilliant once said, “Outbreaks are inevitable, but pandemics are optional.” Sonia Shah is a science journalist and the author of “PANDEMIC: Tracking Contagion from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond” says- “But pandemics only remain optional if we have the will to disrupt our politics as readily as we disrupt nature and wildlife. In the end, there is no real mystery about the animal source of pandemics. It’s not some spiky scaled pangolin or furry flying bat. It’s populations of warm-blooded primates: The true animal source is us.” Government’s liberation of extractive industries and industrial development from environmental and other regulatory constraints can be expected to accelerate the habitat destruction that brings animal microbes into human bodies, she said.

Markets selling live animals are considered a potential source of diseases that are new to humans
Most of the samples taken from the Wuhan market that tested positive for the coronavirus, were from the area where wildlife booths were concentrated. It is said that more than 70% of emerging infections in humans are estimated to have come from animals, particularly wild animals. Rapid deforestation and rampant destruction of habitats bring wildlife into close proximity with human habitations. It is more likely there are chances of spread of deadly viruses as people come into closer contact with animals and their viruses. The viruses behind Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) are also thought to have originated in bats. Civet cats and camels respectively, are thought to be the carriers of these viruses before being transmitted to humans.
A large number of viruses in the animal world have the potential to spread to humans, warn experts. Dormant deadly viruses could be transmitted to humans through wildlife like bats, pangolins, geckos etc as these animals have been largely traded. Markets selling live animals are considered a potential source of diseases that are new to humans. The Sars virus was found to have come from civet cats sold in Chinese markets. Bushmeat in Africa is thought to be a source for Ebola. Since 1940, hundreds of microbial pathogens have either emerged or reemerged into new territory where they’ve never been seen before. They include HIV, Ebola in West Africa, Zika in the Americas, and a bevy of novel coronaviruses. The majority of them—60 percent—originate in the bodies of animals. Some come from pets and livestock. Most of them—more than two-thirds—originate in wildlife.

The wildlife products industry is a major part of the Chinese economy and has been blamed for driving several species to the brink of extinction. China’s demand for wildlife products, which find uses in traditional medicine, or as exotic foods, is driving a global trade in endangered species.  “The Chinese market largely remains a threat to wildlife conservation, said Mubina Akhtar, a wildlife activist. “Rampant killing of wildlife continues in Northeast India and China remains the major consumer. From rhino horn to geckos, pangolins, skin-paws- bones of tiger and other wild cats have been regularly smuggled to the markets in South Asia. A permanent ban on the trade in wildlife by China would have been a vital step in the effort to end the illegal trading of wildlife,” she added.
Conservationists hope the outbreak could provide China with an opportunity to prove it is serious about protecting wildlife. China had earlier put a ban on the import of ivory – after years of international pressure to save elephants from extinction. However, an end to wildlife trade seems distant. Even if China regulates or bans it, wildlife trade is likely to continue in the poorer regions of the world where it continues to be an important food source.

According to Duarah, wildlife trade needs to be regulated globally both for conservation and protecting human health. While it allows for greater surveillance and testing for viruses in farm animals, in case of wildlife–regulation, improved monitoring and public education hold the key to better control the problem. Therefore countries need to contribute to exchange information as well as to improve food safety measures across a range of issues that also include pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and parasites.