Chapter 1
One Bat to Change the World
We begin in the bat caves of northern Laos, where the collision between people and wild places exposes a danger that reaches far beyond the animals themselves — one that now threatens human lives across the globe.
From there, we follow the trade in bats and other wild species through Laos and Myanmar, tracing how poverty, corruption, porous borders and conflict fuel the illegal wildlife trade worldwide — and, with it, the rising risk of the next global pandemic.