“I’ve been a journalist for 40 years — covered lots of different, huge events — but I must say I’ve never really seen anything like this. To watch this virus make its way across the planet, to watch it upend everybody’s life in one way or another, and to know we’re not even halfway close to solving it and there could be worse days to come, is really frightening. But what I think we need to do as journalists is encourage solution-based journalism, science-based journalism, and really push people to lean into that science and not get caught up in the politics behind it.”
As is often the case — even in cheaply made programs — there may be interesting people with interesting things to say behind the scenes and on the ground. Such is the case with Virus Hunters (debuting Sunday, National Geographic channel at 9E/8C).
Virus Hunters plays like an insipid special report on the local 6 o’clock news — phoning it in, literally at one point — but in a conference call earlier this summer with journalists from across the US and Canada, Chris Golden, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and epidemiologist, Jim Desmond, a wildlife veterinarian and founder of Liberia’s Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection NGO and Kendra Phelps, a field scientist at the non-profit EcoHealth Alliance who specializes in bats, shared their experiences and offered their thoughts about where we’re headed next, and what’s happening on the ground right now. It’s a sobering picture.
Here’s some of what they had to say.
• Desmond on chimpanzees, long thought to be a spreader of zoonotic viruses. Think Ebola:
“Wild chimpanzees part of the ecosystem here in Liberia, but they're hunted for bush meat. There's a big— both internal and external — bush-meat trade here in Liberia and throughout West Africa. So part of our job at Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection is to help law enforcement enforce the wildlife protection laws to try to stop killing wildlife that then ends up the (human food) chain, where people can be exposed to potentially dangerous pathogens from the different wildlife that they might be catching and killing. By protecting the chimps — and chimps are a very charismatic species; they're very important to the ecosystem itself — and helping enforce wildlife protection laws, we are not only protecting chimps, we’re also protecting other animals that share the forest with the chimps.
• Phelps on how to mitigate future zoonotic viruses and prevent them from morphing into fully fledged pandemics:
“It’s entirely about how we interact with the environment, how we treat other species that coexist with us in that environment. A healthy environment equals healthy animals equals healthy humans. By taking care of the environment, including wildlife species, and keeping those species separate from human populations
is one way we can prevent the next spillover, such as the transfer of bats into human populations.
• Golden on the big picture:
“Even on a broader level, if we’re thinking about the ways in which humans are impacting nearly every ecosystem around the world — everything from deforestation to sea-level rise to rapid urbanization, all the multiple ways in which the environment is changing — environmental changes are having devastating impact, not only on people but also on wildlife. When we damage wildlife and cause them further stress, it creates more opportunities for viral transmission. By doubling down and really focusing our conservation efforts on issues of wildlife trade and the increase in human-wildlife interaction, we can possibly prevent the next pandemic from happening in the first place.”
• But wait, theres more:
“One of the key words in that question,” Desmond added, “is ‘mitigate.’ What we’re all trying to do with this kind of work . . . mitigate the risks. By changing human behaviour that creates further risk of these pandemics from breaking out through wildlife, the better we can protect all people.
“The way to solve this is not to villainize animals. The way to solve this is realizing that we must encourage and emphasize conservation efforts. By preserving and creating healthy, natural eco-systems, in which these animals can thrive in the absence of human encroachment and interaction, we can maintain a healthy ecosystem and a healthy human population simultaneously.”
Desmond is not fond of the way science has been politicized. “I've worked in many, many countries around the world with different scientists, and one of the great things about science is that people who work in the field want to try and answer important questions about the way the world works. The people I’ve met in the field work together, regardless of culture or ethnicity or background. They just want to do the work.
“If we listen to scientists, if we try to understand what's going on and try to answer these questions — scientists aren't always going to get it right — we can get closer to doing the right thing. When it becomes political, the message can be lost.”
Follow the science, in other words, and listen to the scientists.
©Daniel Hollis-National Geographic/Liberia Chimpanzee Rescue & Protection