Letters to the Editor: Want to help prevent the next pandemic? Go vegan

To the editor: It seems so easy but it is so hard for most people to do — stop eating animals to reduce the risk of losing your life. (“Why China’s wildlife ban is not enough to stop another virus outbreak,” April 2)

I’m not just talking about eating wildlife, but also cows, chickens, pigs, dogs and cats. I’m also not just talking about eating them, but also making medicine out of them for us.

The coronavirus now causing a pandemic, according to the article, probably originated in a horseshoe bat and was passed to a pangolin before it jumped to humans.

The message is clear: No more eating animals, no matter what they are. It might save your life.

Marjorie Hirsch Loeb, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Over the course of my life I’ve come to believe that our relationship with the natural world is dysfunctional, at best.

We kill wolves to artificially increase the number of elk and deer to hunt. We burn down our rainforests, the Earth’s lungs, so we can raise more cattle to slaughter. We engage globally in the ongoing obscenity of factory farming.

Now we are in a pandemic that was probably caused by our exploitation of wildlife.

I no longer think our relationship is dysfunctional. It’s demented. The Earth came first, then after billions of years, Homo sapiens evolved along with all the other life forms that are inseparable from the evolutionary process. We are of the Earth.

Until we stop acting as if we are a separate and superior entity, we will continue to unleash these kinds of pandemics that are the result of this delusion.

Tim Viselli, La Cañada Flintridge

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To the editor: I guess what the coronavirus will teach us all is that what happens thousands of miles away in vastly different societies and cultures does indeed have a huge impact on our day-to-day life in the United States, no matter how many borders we draw on the map or walls we attempt to erect.

We are one humanity, for better or worse, whether we like it or not.

Andrew Tilles, Studio City

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To the editor: Thank you for shining a bright light on the cruel practice of wildlife farming and drawing a direct line between this practice and our past and current pandemics.

Perhaps the rural farmers and corporate interests in China could study the riches of non-animal meat and pivot to plant-based foods for their income and for the sake of the entire planet.

Emily Loughran, Los Angeles