Is Humanity the Cause of Pandemics?

Covid-19 is only one of a number of animal-based viruses (including MERS, SARS, Ebola and Zika) that have, in recent times, made the leap into humans. There is a suggestion that humans are not always entirely passive victims in this process (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/18/tip-of-the-iceberg-is-our-destruction-of-nature-responsible-for-covid-19-aoe). It is argued that human destruction of nature, by moving into forests for logging, mining and agriculture, interferes with some of the links between the wild animals of those locations and their regular viruses. If the animal hosts for the virus are removed (by capture, being eaten or by simple habitat destruction), the virus has to metaphorically 'cast about' for new receptacles in which to replicate. Plentiful humans in the vicinity become suitable 'targets' and our highly interconnected mode of living, makes spreading to across the globe more than likely.