“This is not nature’s revenge, we did it to ourselves."

Asian wet markets provide viruses excellent opportunities to migrate from wild to domestic animal.  Crowding both live and dead domestic and wild animals in unsanitary and unregulated conditions allows the vast number of animal viruses to move from wild species into the human food chain.  

When humans drag these animals out of the wild and stuff them into cages or lay their dead bodies out for display and sale, the viruses are given a free path into other hosts.  Human hosts who have not developed immunity to the viruses.  Our lack of respect for nature is the root of the current pandemic.  And, we will suffer repeated viral epidemics and potentially more pandemics if we don't change our relationship with nature.

Scientists are discovering two to four new viruses are created every year as a result of human infringement on the natural world, and any one of those could turn into a pandemic, according to Thomas Lovejoy, who coined the term “biological diversity” in 1980 and is often referred to as the godfather of biodiversity.

“This pandemic is the consequence of our persistent and excessive intrusion in nature and the vast illegal wildlife trade, and in particular, the wildlife markets, the wet markets, of south Asia and bush meat markets of Africa… It’s pretty obvious, it was just a matter of time before something like this was going to happen,” said Lovejoy, a senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation and professor of environment science at George Mason University.

Covid-19 isn't nature's revenge.  It is self-inflicted by human hubris.