Ebola in Westafrika - Verbot von Bushmeat in Elfenbeinküste
Verfasst: 22.04.2014 18:11
EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE - WEST AFRICA (23): COTE D'IVOIRE, BUSHMEAT BAN
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A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Sun 20 Apr 2014
Source: New Tang Dynasty Television, AFP report [edited]
http://www.ntd.tv/en/news/world/middle- ... isine.html
Late in March [2014], Health Minister Raymonde Goudou Coffie called for her Ivorian compatriots to stop eating porcupines and agoutis, which look like large river-rats, "until we can be sure there are no risks". Bushmeat is known to be a vector of Ebola, the alarming haemorrhagic fever that has claimed at least 122 lives in Guinea, according to a UN World Health Organisation toll on 17 Apr 2014. Liberia, meanwhile, reports 13 deaths.
But last week, the minister's recommendation was still going unheeded or ignored by some traders and hunters in Bouake's main bushmeat market. A customer in his 40s who seemed slightly tipsy asked for "Ebola meat", meaning braised agouti. "Ebola can't survive alcohol or hot water," claimed the scarred [man], who had just eaten a large meal. [Not true. - Mod.JW]
But such scenes are swiftly becoming a thing of the past. An official ban on bushmeat -- including antelopes, chimpanzees and porcupines as well as agoutis -- has been enforced and a week later, the Bouake market was empty. [See comment below.] State officials from the water and forestry service and in the health sector are patrolling the whole country in search of offenders. They recently burned 200 kilos (440 pounds) of smoked game found in the capital Yamoussoukro.
Fear of the disease runs high in Cote d'Ivoire, another of Guinea's neighbours, though no cases have yet been reported. People have begun to listen to official warnings and instructions. "We like agouti very much, but we would rather save our lives," said a man in his 30s. "As an Ivorian, I appreciate this meat. But with the risk of Ebola, I've changed, I don't eat any more," [another person] agreed.
Not everybody plays by the rules. A restaurant owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said she had established a code with some of her most loyal customers, hardened eaters of bushmeat. "When they come in, those who can't do without agouti give me a secret signal and I make sure that other customers believe I am serving them beef," she explained. [Another restaurant owner], 48, whose restaurant used to specialise in game, has converted to beef and fish, but in the process she has lost customers and income. She is sceptical about the government's recommendations. "When I was born, my mother was in this line of work and there was never any disease," she said. "Bushmeat has nothing to do with Ebola."
On the other hand, the restrictions imposed by the Ebola outbreak could help wildlife to recover. A ban of game hunting has been in force since 1974, but remained largely ineffective because of the popularity of the meat. Agoutis, antelopes, chimpanzees, porcupines and other species are all in danger of extinction in Cote d'Ivoire, but today they have at least a few weeks' respite. Ironically, "Ebola is a good thing for the preservation of wildlife," said Colonel Jerome Ake, the Yamoussoukro regional director for water and forestry.
A break in hunting will also benefit the natural environment, since hunters flush out game by starting large brush fires, which they are not always able to keep under control. In the past 10 years, such blazes have killed 120 people and destroyed more than 5000 square kilometres (1900 square miles) of forest and other land, a region twice the size of Luxembourg. But in these days of Ebola, fewer fires are likely to be started.
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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[While ebolaviruses have been isolated from duikers (small antelopes), chimpanzees and porcupines, so far agoutis have not been implicated. And the risk is to the hunter and vendor, unless the purchaser buys an animal that still has fresh blood on it. Cooked bushmeat is safe.
Nevertheless, it is encouraging that a ban on bushmeat can actually work, given the force of tradition, and that endangered species are being spared hunting and brush fires.
Photo of agouti: http://www.birdhike.com/CostaRica07/w_Agouti_banana.jpg
Photo of duiker: http://www.accuratereloading.com/ac23.jpg
Photo of porcupine: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IOiZGBqy78U/T ... 00/aaa.jpg
- Mod.JW]
*******************************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Sun 20 Apr 2014
Source: New Tang Dynasty Television, AFP report [edited]
http://www.ntd.tv/en/news/world/middle- ... isine.html
Late in March [2014], Health Minister Raymonde Goudou Coffie called for her Ivorian compatriots to stop eating porcupines and agoutis, which look like large river-rats, "until we can be sure there are no risks". Bushmeat is known to be a vector of Ebola, the alarming haemorrhagic fever that has claimed at least 122 lives in Guinea, according to a UN World Health Organisation toll on 17 Apr 2014. Liberia, meanwhile, reports 13 deaths.
But last week, the minister's recommendation was still going unheeded or ignored by some traders and hunters in Bouake's main bushmeat market. A customer in his 40s who seemed slightly tipsy asked for "Ebola meat", meaning braised agouti. "Ebola can't survive alcohol or hot water," claimed the scarred [man], who had just eaten a large meal. [Not true. - Mod.JW]
But such scenes are swiftly becoming a thing of the past. An official ban on bushmeat -- including antelopes, chimpanzees and porcupines as well as agoutis -- has been enforced and a week later, the Bouake market was empty. [See comment below.] State officials from the water and forestry service and in the health sector are patrolling the whole country in search of offenders. They recently burned 200 kilos (440 pounds) of smoked game found in the capital Yamoussoukro.
Fear of the disease runs high in Cote d'Ivoire, another of Guinea's neighbours, though no cases have yet been reported. People have begun to listen to official warnings and instructions. "We like agouti very much, but we would rather save our lives," said a man in his 30s. "As an Ivorian, I appreciate this meat. But with the risk of Ebola, I've changed, I don't eat any more," [another person] agreed.
Not everybody plays by the rules. A restaurant owner, who asked to remain anonymous, said she had established a code with some of her most loyal customers, hardened eaters of bushmeat. "When they come in, those who can't do without agouti give me a secret signal and I make sure that other customers believe I am serving them beef," she explained. [Another restaurant owner], 48, whose restaurant used to specialise in game, has converted to beef and fish, but in the process she has lost customers and income. She is sceptical about the government's recommendations. "When I was born, my mother was in this line of work and there was never any disease," she said. "Bushmeat has nothing to do with Ebola."
On the other hand, the restrictions imposed by the Ebola outbreak could help wildlife to recover. A ban of game hunting has been in force since 1974, but remained largely ineffective because of the popularity of the meat. Agoutis, antelopes, chimpanzees, porcupines and other species are all in danger of extinction in Cote d'Ivoire, but today they have at least a few weeks' respite. Ironically, "Ebola is a good thing for the preservation of wildlife," said Colonel Jerome Ake, the Yamoussoukro regional director for water and forestry.
A break in hunting will also benefit the natural environment, since hunters flush out game by starting large brush fires, which they are not always able to keep under control. In the past 10 years, such blazes have killed 120 people and destroyed more than 5000 square kilometres (1900 square miles) of forest and other land, a region twice the size of Luxembourg. But in these days of Ebola, fewer fires are likely to be started.
--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>
[While ebolaviruses have been isolated from duikers (small antelopes), chimpanzees and porcupines, so far agoutis have not been implicated. And the risk is to the hunter and vendor, unless the purchaser buys an animal that still has fresh blood on it. Cooked bushmeat is safe.
Nevertheless, it is encouraging that a ban on bushmeat can actually work, given the force of tradition, and that endangered species are being spared hunting and brush fires.
Photo of agouti: http://www.birdhike.com/CostaRica07/w_Agouti_banana.jpg
Photo of duiker: http://www.accuratereloading.com/ac23.jpg
Photo of porcupine: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IOiZGBqy78U/T ... 00/aaa.jpg
- Mod.JW]