Wet markets

Thank you, Mark Carwardine, for your article on live animal markets and the spillover of COVID-19 into humans (My way of thinking, June 2020). You argue that the issue of these markets is no longer China’s decision alone. Personally, I don’t think the Chinese government is much concerned with world opinion on their internal affairs and I don’t see their long-running war on nature ending soon.

Our influence elsewhere may be more fruitful. As Jane Goodall said in her recent interview on Radio 4’s The Life Scientific programme, we have to tackle poverty and invest in local communities if we want to conserve wildlife and protect the environment.

May I suggest we need to take a critical look at our own industrial exploitation of animals in what we euphemistically call meat farming. We know from previous scares (bird and swine flu) that there are novel viruses lurking out there in the billions of animals we breed to eat.

Ian Pickford, via email

Now, more than ever, an urgent review is required into the future existence of these markets. The global pandemic should be a big wake-up call for everybody. It is just completely incomprehensible to me to hear that, in some places, these markets are still open.

There needs to be a collective effort from the world to put pressure on China, and other nations where these markets are commonplace, to close them down indefinitely.

Stewart Miller, via email