Phenomenon/ Nature/ Man Tampering With Nature

New Weird Diseases Have Been Emerging in Animals

Phenomenon History, 1 Timothy 6:20 January 20, 2000

Up to now, the concern has been confined to the newly evolving diseases facing humans.

But scientists warn that animals face the same threat, due to the international transport of livestock and current agricultural practices. One case-in-point is mad cow disease in Europe. Animals are being forced into more crowded locations and relocated to parts of the world that they are not indigenous to.

Infectious diseases can cause local and even total extinction of an entire species. Emerging diseases among wildlife may have been a factor in the emergence of the AIDS virus, and the Marburg and Ebola viruses. This information comes from a paper written by Peter Daszak and others that has appeared in the journal, Science. “We call it pathogen pollution,” said Daszak. He is urging scientific research on these emerging diseases.

The international transport of livestock and current agricultural practices have helped spread rinderpest in Africa and mad cow disease in Europe. These are just two examples of the global environment posing a threat to wildlife and domestic animals.

The encroachment of humans upon wild animal territory has caused diseases to move between wild and domestic animals. In 1991, canine distemper was raging among domestic dogs in Africa’s Serengeti region. As a result, wild dogs became extinct in the region. Brucellosis has been brought to North America in cattle and has now infected bison and elk in Yellowstone National Park. Bringing wild animals to zoos and wild animal parks in an effort to conserve them, has resulted in endangering some species. One such case is a type of herpes virus harmless to African elephants, can be fatal to their Asian cousins.

Diseases are not only being spread between domestic and wild animals, but between humans and animals. Human measles is threatening wild mountain gorillas. Poliovirus has killed chimpanzees in Gombe National Park, Tanzania. In the Northeast United States, the large deer population is threatening humans with the spread of Lyme disease, from the deer tick they carry. The EOE reporter for this article has had Lyme Disease.

ANALYSIS:
Man in his ignorance has threatened the delicate balance of nature that God has created so perfectly. Through moving animals to areas where they disrupt the natural balance or by carrying disease that threatens animals in the region people and animals are dying unnaturally.

Mad cow disease was caused by man doing something unnatural in feeding domestic cows, waste material from other cows. They made them cannibals and caused a lethal condition in humans, as the final result. It came about by profiteering at the expense of ecological and natural common sense.

As man continues to disrupt the balance of nature, we can expect an unprecedented spread of disease from humans to animals and other unnatural consequences that threaten not only the balance of things but the natural order of life itself. These conditions were prophesied in the Bible and are just another indication of the times in which we live.