Wildlife markets are the tip of the iceberg and not just in China

By James Massola and Karuni Rompies May 31, 2020 — 5.00pm

In the heart of central Jakarta, about 20 minutes from Joko Widodo's Presidential Palace, the Pramuka Bird Market is open for business.

The aisles throng with people, few wearing masks, and hum with the din of humans, birds, reptiles and mammals all mixed together. It stinks too.

A live lizard is displayed for sale in a cage at the Satria market in Bali, Indonesia.

Photo: Amilia Rosa

Today, Vonis, a local trader who uses just the one name, is holding forth about the origins of the coronavirus that has infected nearly 6 million people, killed more than 360,000, up-ended the global economy and more. It is thought to have passed from bats, via an unidentified animal, to humans at a wet market in Wuhan, China.

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