Quentin Martinez's Image

A market trader sliced fruit bats, surrounded by his wares: pythons on the left of the shot; a rat’s tail below; and more bats to the right. Visiting Indonesia, Quentin had an opportunity to photograph the bushmeat trade. Local hunters and vendors were selling wild mammals, reptiles, cats and dogs – some brought in dead, others traded alive or killed on site.

This type of wild animal market may have been the origin of COVID-19, via cross-species transmission. While people have called on wildlife markets to be banned to prevent future pandemics, there are those who believe that such sites should instead be regulated since communities depend on them for food.