Comparing SA game meat trade with Wuhan wet markets is a damaging fallacy

On 15 April 2020, the EMS Foundation, a relatively unknown NGO, had its attorneys submit letters to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and also to the Minister of Health. These two letters sparked a reaction that spread like a wild fire, with most certainly possiblly huge unintended consequences for the lives of many South Africans. The letters were distributed fairly widely locally and most likely abroad as well.

The EMS Foundation

Let us start with the EMS Foundation, which claims its mission is:

“… to alleviate and end suffering, raise public awareness and lobby and empower, provide dignity and promote the rights and interests of vulnerable groups, particularly children, the elderly and wild animals.”

It also publicly claims that it identifies research as a key activity, and bases its actions on the evidence and information gained in this way “to design interventions that promote dialogue, innovation, lasting solutions, empathy and compassion”. This all sounds very well, I would certainly admit.

One of the members of the EMS Foundation is Ms Michelle Pickover, the well-known formal spokesperson of Animal Rights Africa. This certainly clarifies some of the viewpoints in the letters described below.

The content of the letters

The letter to the Minister of Health stated the following:

“As you are aware, there is now ample evidence that the present COVID-19 pandemic was caused by the zoonotic coronavirus, the origin