The global trade of wild animals is cruel and puts our health and the world economy at risk. We demand that the leaders of the G20 commit to a global wildlife trade ban. Forever.
Ban The Global Trade of Wild Animals
Close contact between people and wild animals trapped in cruel captive conditions is a dangerous cocktail that can lead to outbreaks of diseases
Every day, thousands of wild animals are poached or farmed and sold into the global multibillion-dollar trade – for food, for pets, for traditional medicine, and for entertainment. The horrific conditions they face are causing much suffering for every animal involved.
With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the globe, we can no longer ignore the dangers of exploiting wild animals. Wild animals are thought to be the source of at least 70% of all emerging zoonotic infectious diseases, meaning the demand for wild animals puts us all at risk.
Demand our world leaders act now to end the suffering of wild animals and protect our health.
Tigers, bears, elephants, dolphins, snakes: these are just some of the wild animal species suffering in the cruel wildlife trade right now. Captured from the wild or intensively bred in captivity, the conditions in which they are kept can cause immense stress and act as incubators for disease.
Close contact between people and wild animals trapped in cruel captive conditions is a dangerous cocktail that can lead to outbreaks of diseases like Salmonella, SARS, and pandemics like COVID-19, a reality we are all living today.
Global problems require global solutions.
This November, when the leaders of the G20 meet, efforts will no doubt be focussed on dealing with the pandemic and coordinating a global response. That response must include a commitment to ending the global trade of wild animals forever. That’s how we’ll stop future pandemics.
Now is the time for our leaders to act, but it is also time for us to take action to end the suffering of wild animals and to protect people. We can help stop the wildlife trade by not buying wild animals as pets or food, by not supporting the cruel wild animal tourism industry, and by not buying or using wild animal-based medicine products.
Wild animals don’t belong to us. They belong in the wild.
