Humans, Not Animals, to Blame for Zoonoses in Habitat Displacement

While the pandemic spread, speculation on the cause of COVID-19 intensified. How and where did the disease transfer from animals to humans? The spotlight soon hit the bat. That animal was seen as the source of the disease. 'But that still did not give us a precise cause', says Dr Bernice Bovenkerk, associate professor with the Wageningen Philosophy Group. 'To discover a cause, we must consider what drove the bat to come into humans' living space, and to answer that question, we must look to ourselves.'

Bovenkerk specialises in animal ethics and environmental philosophy. She poses the question of how the risks pertaining to diseases such as COVID or Ebola, as well as avian influenza and Q-fever, can be more fairly shared by humans, animals, and the environment. 'When we destroy bats' habitat, it should come as no surprise that they seek shelter in our farms and plantations or enter our cattle's living space. That bat did not seek to become sick and visit us, but its world has shrunk. We are responsible for the increased health risk.'

One Health: human, animal and environment

Wageningen University & Research (WUR) hosts this year's international symposium on Paradigm Shifts for Global One Health. The One Health approach is based on mutual connections between human, animal and environmental health. 'If animals get sick, human health is also at risk', Bovenkerk clarifies. 'When ecosystems are disrupted, human and animal health is in peril. That is why it is crucial we no longer view nature as a resource we can plunder as we see fit or as a force we can contain. No, we must view ourselves as a part of nature.'

'Ebola, for example, resulted from habitat fragmentation', Bovenkerk argues. 'Huge slices of forest were cut down to make room for palm oil plantations. What remained were islands of forest where all the animals huddled together.' The loss of living space causes stress among animals, and animals under stress are more vulnerable to disease. Their limited space then forces them to move into surrounding plantations, where wild animals come into contact with humans and their cattle. 'If manufacturers used less palm oil in their products, there would have been no need to chop down that forest.'

Dwindling biodiversity also impacts human and animal health. 'The species that survive, the generalists, are able to adapt swiftly but are often vulnerable to disease. Moreover, viruses are forced to adapt so they can transfer to the remaining species, and the remaining species more readily pass the virus on. The virus mutates and transfers to humans as well.' Here, too, humans are the main cause of biodiversity loss.

Humans on equal footing with animals and the environment

When considering our relationship with nature, we are in danger of continuing to focus on ourselves. 'Joost van Herten, a PhD student researching how the One Health approach can be applied, discovered that animal and ecosystem health is still frequently seen in terms of their contribution to human health', Bovenkerk states. 'I argue that we should place humans on equal footing with animals and the environment. Animals should be protected from unnecessary health risks, and ecosystems deserve to be shielded from interventions that may elevate the risk of disease.'

'Take livestock farming, for example. When Q-fever broke out in the Netherlands in 2007, 50 thousand goats were culled to stop the outbreak. Four thousand humans contracted the disease, 95 of whom eventually perished.' Culling was not the only option. The animals could also have been tested and even vaccinated. The animals were killed because it was considered the cheapest option, at the expense of the goats. 'One Health forces us to reconsider this situation. Is it fair that our cattle bear the brunt of the risk when there is an outbreak? Or can we, perhaps, scale down our livestock sector so that the animals are not packed so closely together, thus mitigating the risk of infection?'

Reducing health risks

'If we take One Health seriously, we must radically alter how we address health', says Bovenkerk. The One Health High Level Expert Panel stated in 2021 that an equilibrium must be found between human, animal and environmental health. This calls for a systems change that distributes the risks fairly. 'If we intend to continue to live in close proximity to animals, which I believe to be enriching, we must be willing to accept certain health risks. At the same time, I believe we can reduce these risks across the board.'

We don't need to wait until the next disease comes knocking. 'Governments and businesses frequently prefer to focus on the more photogenic crisis management such as rapid response with vaccines. The One Health approach also means we must revisit how our society is designed in order to prevent outbreaks. Can we replace monoculture with biodiversity-positive alternatives? Can we scale down livestock farming? The Netherlands is the world's second-largest agricultural exporter after the United States. We may have to relinquish that title.'