I did not want to learn the word Pangolin

Ok. I admit it. I am beginning to feel that the zombie apocalypse is approaching. I went to my local grocery store today, and I got the feeling we were preparing for a hurricane in the middle of March in Central Texas.

The hand sanitizer was all gone as well as the Clorox wipes. So of course, I got a little nervous: not that those supplies were gone, but that the people who bought them thought it was necessary to get them now. I guess that 's how panic begins. 

It's so bizarre to me that an animal called a pangolin (it 's a mammal that looks like an armadillo had sex with an anteater) or maybe an Asian bat sold in a wet market in China could have this effect across the ocean. I don't know why China and the rest of the world didn't learn a lesson after 2003 when SARS  also originated from animals. Science is real. Wild animals like crocs and civets and pigs and chickens and snakes and bats and pangolins don't belong in close quarters with us humans. 

I understand there are cultural differences and pangolin meat is considered a status symbol, but if there is no one left to eat said animal, that seems counterintuitive. I read where pangolin scales are traded illegally and are ground up for pills. The Chinese use them for all kinds of ailments and there are stir fry recipes for the meat on social media. The Asian species are all but gone so now they are traded on the black market from Africa. Just recently a 14 ton ship load of pangolin scales were seized in Singapore from 72,000 Nigerian pangolins. But let's say it's not that animal, but perhaps a bat who is responsible. The species doesn't really matter! We are co-mingling with wild animals that have already proven to be deadly.

Is there anybody out there who can fix this cultural difference?  Maybe we can send some scientists, researchers, and educators into the communities that continue to mix humans with wild animals.  In the meantime, we will continue to be the victims of zoonotic diseases-- brought to you by a host of  critters who would be very happy, I am sure, if we just left them alone to live their best lives. 

We need to pray for science to triumph. And the scientists who are researching and working in the labs for a vaccine on our behalf. We could pray for all of those health care workers and doctors who are on the front lines. And those people on the floating petri dishes in the ocean, and really, all of us, because we are going to be affected in some way if we are not already. This is Lenten season for me, and there is no time like the present to join together in prayer for everybody and everything. 

After I close my computer, I plan on a long talk with God. Then,

I am going to grab a Corona Lite and jump into my hot tub and try not to think about what I have just written.  My choice of beer is appropriate, don't you think? 

UPDATE: So many things have happened in the world of covid since I wrote this 3 years ago. I wonder if we'll ever know the origin of this disease. We are so fortunate to have a vaccine today. On another note,  I doubt it was the pangolin's fault!