SAVE Wildlife. SAVE Our Lives. If everyone commits, we can prevent a new pandemic TEXT BY WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY PHOTOGRAPHS BY WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY / DOMINIQUE LE ROUX / WWF FOR MORE INFO on combating health risks in the wildlife trade, visit: fb.com/onehealthlaos
T
he recent COVID-19 epidemic has totally disrupted lives, caused unprecedented losses, and turned the world upside down. Yet this disaster was very preventable. Evidence suggests that this disease spread from animals in the wildlife trade to humans. Due to the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, governments around the world must pay more attention to preventing
life-threatening zoonotic risks associated with the commercial trade in wildlife for human consumption. More than 70% of newly emerging zoonotic diseases originate in animals, and current zoonotic virus investigations show that there are over 1.6 million unstudied viruses in birds and mammals. Scientists predict that 700,000 of these could constitute a zoonotic risk, based on decades of experience. Despite what are likely countless cases of humans becoming infected with pathogens spilling over from wildlife in the trade chain and the well-known human health dangers and economic consequences, the trade in wild animals persists in Laos and other nations in the region.
