« The sorest ill that Heaven hath
Sent on this lower world in wrath,
The plague (to call it by its name,)
One single day of which
Would Pluto’s ferryman enrich,
Waged war on beasts, both wild and tame. […] »
Jean de la Fontaine
China has finally decided to ban the sale and consumption of wild animals. On the market in Wuhan, the cradle of the epidemic, you could find civets, rats, snakes, giant salamanders, bats, pangolins, wolf cubs …
Thousands of miles away, confined to Bordeaux, a 4-month-old baby who knows nothing about China, diseases, the harm inflicted on animals, the pandemic or the anxiety-provoking news channels, plays with animals that smile at her.
Lucile Béranger
