We've got no one to blame but ourselves for the COVID-19 pandemic ... according to wildlife expert Jeff Corwin, who says the problem goes way beyond Chinese wet markets.
The famed biologist host put it bluntly Friday on "TMZ Live" when he told us reckless human behavior -- such as over-hunting of species and mass deforestation -- creates prefect conditions for new bugs, like the coronavirus, to cause pandemics.
He adds we've "literally pushed animals to the brink and species on the edge" by destroying their habitats. Jeff says the more contact we and our food sources -- such as livestock -- have with those previously wild areas, the greater the chance for a new virus to jump to humans.
But, it's not all gloom and doom. Corwin says there are solutions at many levels. But, his focus, as a wildlife biologist, would be to help repair our relationship with the environment ... while looking at it from a different vantage point. Watch.