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Jane Goodall blames human’s ‘disrespect’ for animals for coronavirus

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Famed anthropologist Jane Goodall is blaming humans’ abuse of Mother Nature for the global coronavirus crisis.

“It is our disregard for nature and our disrespect of the animals we should share the planet with that has caused this pandemic, that was predicted long ago,” the 86-year-old animal expert told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The British scientist, best known for her lifelong study of chimpanzees, argued that destroying habitats has forced animals into closer proximity, spreading diseases — and ultimately infecting humans.

She said the deadly crisis also highlights the dangers of “meat markets for wild animals in Asia, especially China, and our intensive farms where we cruelly crowd together billions of animals around the world.”

“These are the conditions that create an opportunity for the viruses to jump from animals across the species barrier to humans,” she told AFP while promoting a new National Geographic documentary, “Jane Goodall: The Hope.”





“We have to realize we are part of the natural world, we depend on it, and as we destroy it we are actually stealing the future from our children,” she said.

“Hopefully, because of this unprecedented response, the lockdowns that are going on around the world, more people will wake up and eventually they can start thinking about ways they can live their lives differently.

“Everyone can make an impact every single day.”





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