"It would be hard to design more opportune conditions for new viruses to emerge: Tightly pack together a variety of species from around the world..."

"... and transport them across borders directly into large wet markets. Ensure that these massively stressed and immunocompromised wild animals are in close proximity to domestic and farmed animals. Then distribute these animals to urban populations for consumption.... On state-monitored Chinese social media, a hashtag that translates as 'support a ban on wild meat markets,' originating from the government People's Daily, has been among the highest trending topics on Weibo over the past week. Another popular hashtag is 'the source of the new coronavirus is wild animals.' Among the messages from Chinese users: 'I hope that laws and regulations can be formulated in the future, when someone eats and sells wild meat, catch and sentence them directly,' and, 'Reject wild meat, for your and my health.'"

From "Abolish Asia's 'Wet Markets,' Where Pandemics Breed" a Wall Street Journal column by a global veterinarian and a director of the Wildlife Conservation Society.