The extent to which the fate of humans and animals is intertwined is once again apparent with the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19). It is not an unexpected disaster but the direct result of how we treat nature and animals.
If we don't change our lifestyle and our relationship with nature and animals, corona will only be the beginning.

"If we don't change our relationship with animals and nature, corona will only be the beginning."

COVID-19 is something WE have all created. It is the result of our actions. COVID is a “zoonosis”. This is an infectious disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Zoonoses are dangerous because they are 'new' to our immune system.

Exactly how dangerous they are became painfully clear in the Netherlands during the Q fever epidemic. This arose in 2007 from goat and sheep farms in North Brabant and grew into the largest worldwide.

Fortunately, the Dutch Q fever infection did not have the potential of a pandemic, because transmission between humans is very unlikely. However, this caveat does not apply to viruses that can jump from birds and pigs to humans and then further between humans, such as the Spanish flu that killed millions of people a century ago.



Taking care of the animals is therefore taking care of ourselves. Our fate, it turns out, is directly and inextricably linked to theirs.
The industrial and intensive way in which animals are kept and killed have led us from one animal disease crisis (or food scandal) to another over the past thirty years.

Pandemics almost all have their origin in the wildlife trade, hunting and livestock farming. The latter is currently the greatest, and thus poses the greatest risk. After all, the best breeding ground for diseases is intensive livestock farming. The animals get sick and pass it on to each other.

The vast majority of antibiotics in the world are used for intensive livestock farming – not by humans – thus creating an excellent breeding ground for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and viruses. Mad cow disease, the fowl plague virus H5N1, the MERS coronavirus, African and Mexican swine fever, Q fever and SARS. Covid-19 “from China” is just the latest mutation of this strain of coronaviruses. Animals get sick because of the way people keep them. And people are getting sick because of the way we keep animals, transport them all over the world and slaughter them: intensively and on a large scale.

In addition to being insanely cruel and polluting, this industry is also the biggest culprit of deforestation, which changes habitats for bats and other wildlife. We bring wildlife closer by destroying their habitat.

Animals get sick because of the way people keep them. And people are getting sick because of the way we keep animals.

So this is not a “Chinese virus”, but a problem for all of us. It makes no sense to point to China – especially when you consider that the Netherlands and America export staggering numbers of pigs, calves and dairy products to China. A 2015 study by the US National Institutes of Health showed that Europe and the US (the two largest exporters of pigs) are also the largest exporters of swine flu.
This is not a “Chinese virus”, but a problem for all of us.

So let's not point at others, but put our hands in our own bosom. Our food choices have become a matter of global importance. If we do not change our lifestyle and our relationship with nature and animals, the risk of new outbreaks will only increase. Because there is no dividing line between nature and us, in reality there is no 'we' and the animals, everything is in fact one. Taking care of the animals is therefore taking care of ourselves. Our fate, it turns out, is directly and inextricably linked to theirs.

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Corona Lifestyle Voeding

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