A Thai woman is facing up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to 500,000 baht (approximately $13,800) for possessing protected wildlife carcasses and for crimes violating the Computer Crimes Act (2007) in Thailand. The incident occurred after Phonchanok Srisunaklua, a teacher, posted a video on her Facebook page, Kin Saeb Nua Nua (Eating it Delicious and Hot), which has 392,000 followers.
In the video, Srisunaklua is shown spreading the lesser Asiatic yellow bats’ wings before she tore them apart to eat them. According to Yahoo! News, she bought the bats at a market in northern Thailand, where bats that are infected with the closest relative to SARS-CoV-2 can also be found.
The bat was boiled in a bowl of spicy soup, and Srisunaklua said it was “delicious.” In the video, she said it was her first time consuming a bat and added that its nails smelled like a rat and its skin was sticky. She also told viewers that she was not trying to spread any coronavirus, as residents in her area also ate bats.
A couple of days after sharing the video, Srisunaklua commented on the video that she was “still alive.”
After the video went viral, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) warned people not to eat bats due to health concerns. Dr. Chakkarat Pittayawong-anont, the director of the Epidemiology Division at the DDC, said humans could easily contract diseases from bats.
Veterinarian Pattaraphon Manee-on of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, mentioned that eating bats should not happen in any country. That creature carries a lot of pathogens that may cause health risks to people.
According to Kaset Sutecha, a lecturer at Kasetsart Universikhruty’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, there are more than 60 types of viruses that have been detected in bats that can spread to humans.
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Srisunaklua apologized for her behavior and promised not to eat bats again.
