Ebola: Hunters, ‘Bush Meat’ Sellers Decry Poor Patronage

Hunters and ‘bush meat’ sellers in Lagos have decried the lull in their business, as many people have refused to eat the meat for fear of contracting the Ebola virus.A hunter, Tope Olayiwola, who usually kills porcupines, grass-cutters, antelopes and other wild animals and sells to his customers in Ajegunle told LEADERSHIP Friday that though people have stopped patronising his business, they do not understand what the disease is all about
.After LEADERSHIP Friday explained the dangerous disease to Olayiwola, she revealed that people have been spreading lies about the disease, saying that it can only be contracted from consuming ‘bush’ meat.She equally wondered why diseases can now be contracted from the meat which the ancestors of many Nigerians ate for ages without contracting any deadly disease.“The antelope we would have sold for about N5,000, we now beg customers to purchase for N1,500. Yet, many of them refuse. They are scared,” she said.One of her customers, Mama Caro, who sells ‘bush meat’ pepper-soup along Kirikiri Road, Ajegunle, said she is now more afraid to touch the ‘bush meat’, talk more of selling it to people.According to Mama Caro, she now prefers to sell only fish pepper-soup; because she could not sell the ‘bush meat’ pepper-soup she prepared the other day and did not allow any member of her family to eat out of it.“People are scared of the disease and nobody wants to take the risk of buying what will kill him or her,” she said.Another unidentified woman who sells smoked ‘bush meat’ disclosed that business has been bad, as people are no more interested in buying or eating ‘bush meat’.
“When my sister visited me, I gave her a portion of the smoked ‘bush meat’, but she rejected it, saying she is scared of contracting the Ebola virus. Even my husband has stopped shaking of hands for fear of contracting the virus, as well,” she said.