KwaZulu-Natal MP Narend Singh (IFP) asked what legislative changes could be made to control the wildlife trade. The trade in pangolins, “a huge criminal enterprise” and a possible intermediary in the novel coronavirus spillover, included local involvement and the failure to act effectively against the illegal trade. King said there was a possibility that SA may bear some responsibility for the phenomenon of SARS-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Last week during an educational briefing to MPs on “the wildlife trade, the origins of Covid-19, and preventing future pandemics”, Prof Nick King, referring to Covid-19, told SA legislators: “That this spillover happened in Asia is irrelevant. Now the department is putting forward legislation to allow for most creatures to be slaughtered as products for human consumption, in which case abattoirs are about to see a vast array of wildlife in general ending their lives in these facilities. The practical effect of this is “to legitimise this part of the ‘game meat value chain’ and therefore to develop the industry, especially the export of game meat,” according to Sarah Kvalsvig, a consultant with Cullinan & Associates, a specialist environmental law firm. GroundUp reports that last year, the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development amended the Animal Improvement Act, redefining 32 wild species. While there is general scientific consensus that the novel coronavirus is of zoonotic origin and various groupings are advising that wildlife markets must be closed, the government has put forward legislation that could massively expand the wildlife industry to become mass meat suppliers to the world.