The 53-year-old says her earnings from bush meat keep her four children in school and she laments the sudden loss of business as public health officials warn that bush meat may be contaminated with the dreaded Ebola virus.
“Bush meat is healthy. I usually eat it as a special food on Sundays,” she said. “We have been consuming for years only for it to be made unpopular by these needless rumors flying around. No one wants to buy our products now. It is sad.”
Many restaurants in Ghana’s
capital no longer serve bush meat, of which a large rodent known as a
“grasscutter” was the most popular offering. Hunters trap them in the
wild or rear them at home for their meat, which is said to taste like
chicken.
Health experts believe the
initial cases in many Ebola outbreaks start from people eating or
handling Ebola-infected animals. Then they spread it to other people
through contact with bodily fluids. Fruit bats, as well as primates such
as chimpanzees, are frequently cited as potential reservoirs of the
Ebola virus — animals many Africans hunt for their meat.
Human infections in Africa have
been linked to hunting, butchering and processing meat from infected
animals, although none from eating cooked bush meat, according to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ebola first appeared in 1976 in Congo and has caused periodic
outbreaks there and in other African countries. This is West Africa’s
first outbreak — and the most deadly ever — and the World Health
Organization warns it could get worse before the situation improves.
More than 4,500 people, mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, have
died.While stemming human-to-human transmission is the main focus for governments and international health agencies, African communities that hunt wild animals for their meat “risk future spill-over from species that can carry the virus,” including fruit bats, some primates, and small antelopes called duikers, the Food and Agriculture Organization warns. Hunting animals that are sick or behaving strangely, or collecting dead animals for sale, is risky, the U.N. agency says.
Despite the dangers, bush meat is a source of protein for many West Africans, and for some it is a special treat. The soup of a roasted fruit bat, for example, is highly sought after.
Kyerewaa said she once had clients from all walks of life. That has changed with Ebola sweeping through West Africa and health officials stepping up campaigns to educate the public about how to avoid catching it.
“I am the only surviving bush
meat seller in this market,” said Kyerewaa, who said she has been a bush
meat trader for years. “I can’t stop coming because I have to look for
ways to support myself and my family.”
At her stall the parts of the
great cane rat —smoked and salted for preservation — fetch as much as
$30. That’s out of reach for many in Ghana, where many live on less than
$2 a day.
Rebecca Ackwonu, a Ghana Health Service Commission official, said
it’s hard to enforce any kind of bush meat ban in a country where many
people grew up on it.
“We have advised our people to suspend eating bush meat in the meantime because of the risks,” she said.
Some have heeded the call.
Theodor Semi, who operates a
popular downtown restaurant called Semi’s Place, said he won’t serve
bush meat until all of West Africa is declared free of Ebola.
“It has affected business, of
course,” he said. “It has become slow because most Ghanaians like bush
meat, especially grasscutter.”
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