The UN Environment Program (UNEP) says that the avian flu may affect over 80% of known bird species and 54 threatened species like fish eagles, rabbits, otters, etc. and be a larger risk than imagined. Since the only way to eradicate this virus from domestic poultry is widespread culling, protein starved societies may turn to “bush meat” and thereby increase the “unacceptable” pressure on wild pigs, chimpanzees, and apes. Predators losing their natural prey to human exploitation may resort to eating infected meat and the disease spread to rats and mice. When rats carry the disease, it could easy mutate with Leptospirosis and cause widespread havoc among humans. UNEP experts say that the highly evolved olfactory systems in some of these mammals may make them more susceptible to the H5N1 virus.