hey, this could have been bse, and then we'd all be talking about the insanity of factory farming.

i think that focusing on one specific species, or one culture's utilization of that species, is maybe missing the broader point, which is that the mass industrialization of meat for food produces certain challenges in terms of disease containment. it may be true that regulations around the use of certain animals for food are lacking in china, at this time, and that this is an issue that the rest of the world might want to put some pressure on the chinese to seriously remedy. but, to reduce the issue to a specific practice or a specific species would be to miss the real lesson, here.

in the end, it may be that putting proper controls on the population of bats may be the most efficient way to deal with an illegal harvesting trade that would otherwise have to be stopped with violence; that may be the choice, in the end - to forcibly stop the trade, or to accept defeat before trying, and deal with the source of the disease, instead.

for some animals, it might make sense to introduce domesticated breeding programs under controlled and vaccinated conditions.

but, don't confuse yourself - we'd have the same problems with our high concentrations of farm animals here, if we didn't regulate their care.