Wildlife campaigners across the world have united to urge the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue a formal statement regarding a global ban of wildlife trade.
Experts and activists from 339 organisations, which include Blood Lions, Wildlife, Humane Society International, the Born Free Foundation and the Lion Coalition, have written an open letter to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Dr Zhang Qi of the WHO, asking them to ‘state the proven link between wildlife markets and their serious threats to human health’ with reference to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
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This follows after the WHO stated that ‘governments must rigorously enforce bans on the sale and trade of wildlife for food.’
The letter responded that: ‘However, in most countries such bans don’t exist. We also note that there are many ways in which wildlife is utilised, like the use of wild animals for the production of traditional medicine, that could pose a risk to human health.’
The letter further urges the WHO to implore governments worldwide to permanently ban the commercial trade of wildlife.
‘We therefore strongly urge the World Health Organisation to recommend to governments worldwide that they institute a permanent ban on live wildlife markets, drawing an unequivocal link between these markets and their proven threats to human health… We would like to emphasise our focus on the need to tackle the commercial trade in wildlife, and to close markets that sell live wild animals or products, rather than markets at which other types of fresh produce might be traded.’
Also read: The loopholes in China’s wildlife ban
Image: Unsplash
