Nigeria’s wet markets are flourishing despite coronavirus pandemics

LAGOS (Reuters) – Just a few months after Epe Fish Market was shut down to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, vendors on the spot in the southern Nigerian state of Lagos returned to buy, sell and trade animals.

A salesman decalcifies an endangered pangoline with a machete. Nearby, grass fields become rodent skin. Most of the vendors wear masks.

Experts say COVID-19, which killed around 1,000 people in Nigeria, jumped from animals to humans, possibly on a wet market in China. But a few in Epe were worried.

“We are not afraid of it because the coronavirus is not in the flesh,” said vendor Kunle Yusaf. “We eat the meat, even during this coronavirus, and we have no disease.”

University of Cambridge epidemiologist Dr Olivier Restif called for more training on safe animal trafficking and hygiene.

“We are very concerned about the risk it brings,” he said of markets where live animals are kept in close quarters. But he warned that simply banning markets could alienate people and bring trade underground.

The charity WWF International said the pandemic “should be a wake-up call.” But the thriving trade at Epe illustrated unusual attitudes despite the nearly 800,000 killed worldwide by the virus.

Nigeria is also a hub for illegal trade in wildlife to Asia.

Nigeria’s National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) did not respond to requests for comment.

The WWF said the economic tensions of the pandemic have threatened conservation budgets in many countries.

Chinedu Mogbo, founder of Green Fingers Wildlife Conservation Initiative, a nature reserve near Epe, hopes to encourage Nigerians to reduce bushmeat consumption and prevent traditional medicines on animals, which could support the unhygienic treatment of animals that transmit of viruses can help.

“I believe they will appreciate them more, come close to seeing them,” Mogbo said.