A new report from the United Nations this week is finally bringing attention to the root cause of COVID-19: unnatural human proximity to wild animals.
If steps aren’t taken to end animal-to-human transmission, the U.N. warns that more diseases will surely emerge — and they could be even more devastating than this coronavirus. Congress should heed this warning.
The U.N. report warns that if we don’t end the exploitation of animals, “we can expect to see a steady stream of these diseases jumping from animals to humans in the years ahead.” That’s because more than 70% of new zoonotic infectious diseases come from wild animals.
And as the world’s largest importer of wildlife, the United States has significant work to do to solve the problem.
Last year, $4.3 billion of wildlife and related products were imported into the U.S., including 200 million live animals. The transport of these animals in tightly packed crates and cages is unregulated, unhygienic, and stressful for the animals, creating just the conditions for diseases to thrive. The animals range from crocodiles to wild birds, and they are imported for food, harvested for traditional medicine, traded as “exotic” pets, or forced into a life of suffering as entertainers at theme parks and zoos.
The Netflix hit Tiger King provides a small window into this largely unregulated trade. Experts contend that it is easier to buy a wild tiger from unregulated markets than to adopt a kitten from a local shelter. The Big Cat Public Safety Act currently up for consideration in Congress could change this, but we must go further.
The only way to minimize the risk of zoonotic diseases spread from wild animals is to end the cruel and hazardous global wildlife trade, which means banning wild animals for food, medicine, pets, luxury products, and entertainment. While global problems require global solutions, the U.S. has an opportunity and a responsibility to lead the charge.
In addition to the HEROES Act, which passed the House in May, other efforts are emerging in Congress to reassess the impact of laws and federal regulations on wildlife trade, as detailed in an April report from the Congressional Research Service. Another significant effort is the bipartisan Global Wildlife Health and Pandemic Prevention Act, which aims to shut down high-risk wild animal markets around the world.
A comprehensive ban would no doubt be opposed by those special interests that gain financially from the abuse of wild animals. But COVID-19 should leave no doubt about where the real financial risk lies. With the pandemic costing the global economy trillions of dollars, the real question is whether we can afford not to ban the wildlife trade.
In addition, any ban must be accompanied by enforcement, alternative livelihoods, and public education to reduce the risk of consumer demand driving the wildlife trade underground. In just the past year, the U.S. federal government launched nearly 10,000 investigations into illegal shipments of wildlife. Less demand will mean less crime, less suffering, and, ultimately, will reduce the risk of future pandemics.
The time for congressional action to end the global wildlife trade is now, while the public remains focused on the carnage of COVID-19. Congress and the Trump administration must also call on their partners in the G-20 to follow suit for the sake of international biosecurity and public health.
COVID-19 shows the steep price that we pay when we remove wild animals from their ecosystems, terrorize them in rancid conditions, and throw them into close contact with species and viruses against which they lack natural immunity. This pandemic is a wake-up call for the human race to leave wild animals where they belong: in the wild. It must not take another global pandemic for us to learn our lesson.
Steve McIvor is the CEO of World Animal Protection.
