COVID-19 is a wakeup call for the world – and the case for a global wildlife trade ban has never been more urgent.
The deadly pandemic is widely thought to have emerged from a wet market in Wuhan, China, where wildlife was also being sold. Every day animals are taken from the wild or bred in captivity to be sold in markets which are unregulated and unhygienic, creating a lethal concoction in which infectious diseases can thrive. In fact, more than 70% of emerging zoonotic infectious diseases come from wildlife including SARS and Ebola.
COVID-19 isn’t the first disease transferred from wild animals to humans, but we have the power to help make it the last.
It is critical that we now work together across the world and our nations to end the global wildlife trade and help prevent a future global pandemic. That’s why we need you to urge our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to call for a global wildlife trade ban at the upcoming G20 meeting of global leaders in November.
|