Lankan Scientist Sees Coronavirus As A Blessing In Disguise And Something Sinister In Introduction
The Government should take strong measures to prevent invasive or alien species entering Sri Lanka, a top conservationist urged yesterday while terming the spread of coronavirus worldwide as a blessing in disguise as it would certainly hamper pet trade especially the illegal types.
Herpetologist cum taxonomist, A.A. Thasun Amarasinghe who is also an ecologist and conservation scientist currently working as a senior research scientist at the Research Center for Climate Change–University of Indonesia told The Earthlanka that China had banned trade in wild animals Sunday until the new coronavirus, which was linked to a market in Wuhan dealing in wildlife, was eradicated. Amarasinghe said that worldwide conservationists were calling on China to make the ban permanent. Europe would certainly ban pets from that country. He also said that though Sri Lanka exported animals to China, the latter got most of the species for its flourishing trade from in and around China.
Meanwhile, the conservationist also observed that simply it couldn’t be said that the coronavirus had spread due to Bats. Amarasinghe asked: “How many scientists, researchers are working with bat families, bat colonies etc. I personally believe that this virus must have been spread from an escaped Bat or some forces had targeted China –using something similar to a biological weapon.” He stressed that Sri Lankan authorities should have been more cautious, citing that first death occurred on January 8 and no sooner most of the countries like Indonesia and Malaysia were on alert about it. However, Sri Lanka actually raised its guard only around January 25, Amarasinghe noted. He also said that the Chinese woman found positive in Sri Lanka had been in the country for 10 days. “Sri Lankans are generally much immune due to dark skins. The matter however should not be taken lightly and general health practices of cleanliness should be encouraged,” Amarasinghe added.
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