By Randy Thanthong-Knight https://www.bloomberg.com/asia
February 21, 2020, 3:00 AM GMT+7
- Bats harbor a high number of viruses that may threaten people
- Smuggling of wild animals through Asia risks spreading viruses
With growing awareness of bat-borne viruses -- from NipahLinfa WangSpecial PrecautionsmilkKhao Chong Phran bat cave in the Thai province of Ratchaburi, where the bat dung is mined, there are an estimated of 3 million wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bats, an insect-eating species that produces high-nitrogen guano, essential for boosting plant growth.
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Bat Soup
In other places, bat consumption is more common. On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, for example, fruit-eating bats are sold by market vendors and their meat is used in a soup-based dish with vegetables, chili paste and coconut milk. In Palau, a whole bat is served in a soup of ginger, coconut milk and spices -- a dish that gained notoriety on social media during the early weeks of Covid-19.
The trade and smuggling of wild mammals, including ones that may act as intermediaries of bat-borne viruses, poses a risk. Carcasses and parts of pangolins, lions, rhinos and elephants are routinely being trafficked through Southeast Asia.
Indonesian customs officials holds a frozen pangolin bound for Singapore, in Surabaya, July 2015.
Photographer: Jefta Images/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
Bat expert Supaporn is expanding her research to look at pangolins as well as horseshoe bats, which may have played a role in the emergence of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, she said.
Smuggling Threat