Crackdown on wet markets and illegal wildlife trade could prevent the next pandemic
25 March 2020
Leaving
his stall at the Golbazar Maharajganj Fish Market in Agartala, the
vendor headed out toward another shop, a hovel really, tucked between
the market’s boundary wall and a stack of Styrofoam boxes. He opened
one, hauling out a mutilated carcass of a peacock marked softshelled
turtle (Nilssonia hurum) and chopped it into pieces for a waiting
customer. Money exchanged hands. It is not kosher to quote rates of
wildlife as it encourages trade and though the prices are somewhat
higher than, say goat meat, by putting a price on the priceless — a
rare protected Schedule I species with the level of protection accorded
to a tiger — he had sold the turtle cheap. Also visible were
hollowed-out shells of the soft-shelled turtle, the Indian flapshell
(Lissemys punctata), another Schedule I freshwater species. Information
gleaned from the traders indicated that about 4,000 turtles are sold
annually in Golbazar, and they assure that any quantity required can be
made available.
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