The Asia for Animals Coalition and our individual member organisations have been campaigning for the end of the wildlife trade in Asia for many, many years now. During that time we have seen the emergence of the SARS disease crisis in Asia, Ebola in central Africa, and Avian Flu reaching Europe, all of which are commonly thought to have arisen from preparation and consumption of wild-caught wildlife products and the environments in which they are sold. The wet markets of Asia are notorious for their overall lack of hygiene standards, offering the perfect breeding ground for disease which then makes the leap to human infection.
image: Aaron Gokeski
Coronavirus is the latest in a string of diseases to point to this shared origin, and AfA believes that now is the time for world leaders to take this issue seriously and enforce tangible laws to reduce and eventually end demand for wildlife products. If they have failed to listen to pleas from animal welfare organisations, perhaps they will now start to pay attention to the links to the threat to human health.