Trade in live wildlife puts all of us at risk
When live wild animals and their parts are treated as commodities and traded, the resulting harm does not stop with them. Wild animals pay the first price. But ultimately, everyone does. The same conditions that compromise animal health and welfare also increase risks to human health, biodiversity and ecosystems. This interdependence lies at the heart of One Health: the internationally recognised understanding that the health of humans, domestic and wild animals, plants and the wider environment are closely linked.
A new white paper from the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade examines why and how live wildlife trade and markets generate far-reaching human, animal and environmental health risks. The document combines evidence from public health, veterinary medicine, conservation science, animal welfare, law, behavioural science, economics and One Health governance. Seen together, this evidence highlights significant but still insufficiently addressed One Health challenges associated with live wildlife trade and markets.
Entitled Live Wildlife Trade and Markets, the report examines how human, animal and environmental health risks accumulate and compound one another from the moment an animal enters the trade chain. These risks are not confined to illegal trade, one region of the world, or one type of market. They also arise in legal and international supply chains, including the exotic-pet trade and online commerce.
Entitled Live Wildlife Trade and Markets, the report examines how human, animal and environmental health risks accumulate and compound one another from the moment an animal enters the trade chain. These risks are not confined to illegal trade, one region of the world, or one type of market. They also arise in legal and international supply chains, including the exotic-pet trade and online commerce.
The report was developed by the Alliance's Working Group on Tranformative System Change, co-chaired by People for Nature & Peace Founder and CEO, Dr Barbara Maas and Prof Alex Greenwood, Head of the Department of Wildlife Diseases at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and Professor for Wildlife Diseases at the Freie Universität Berlin in Germany.
“Legal and illegal trade both generate and increase zoonotic risk when live wild animals are removed from their natural environments, captured, handled, transported, confined, mixed with animals of the same or different species, sold, slaughtered or held,” said Dr Maas. “These activities compromise animal health and welfare, disrupt ecological and host–pathogen relationships, and create conditions that favour pathogen exposure, amplification, transmission, recombination and spillover.”
Trade data compiled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) illustrate the enormous scale and geographic connectivity of reported international wildlife trade. Between 2011 and 2020 alone, exporters reported approximately 3.5 million CITES shipments. These involved more than 1.3 billion individual organisms, including 82 million animals, as well as an additional 279 million kilogrammes of products reported by weight. Asia and Europe were both among the leading exporting and importing regions.
“Legal and illegal trade both generate and increase zoonotic risk when live wild animals are removed from their natural environments, captured, handled, transported, confined, mixed with animals of the same or different species, sold, slaughtered or held,” said Dr Maas. “These activities compromise animal health and welfare, disrupt ecological and host–pathogen relationships, and create conditions that favour pathogen exposure, amplification, transmission, recombination and spillover.”
Trade data compiled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) illustrate the enormous scale and geographic connectivity of reported international wildlife trade. Between 2011 and 2020 alone, exporters reported approximately 3.5 million CITES shipments. These involved more than 1.3 billion individual organisms, including 82 million animals, as well as an additional 279 million kilogrammes of products reported by weight. Asia and Europe were both among the leading exporting and importing regions.
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CITES trade data also indicate that legally reported international trade includes substantial numbers of live animals from groups of species associated with pathogens of particular concern. Between 2011 and 2020, more than 575,000 live individuals from 49 CITES-listed species directly associated with priority diseases were reported in legal international trade. A broader analysis found that live trade in CITES-listed species from families associated with at least one priority disease involved more than 1.12 million individuals over the same period. Only a few years ago, COVID-19 demonstrated that the crippling impacts of zoonotic disease outbreaks and pandemics extend far beyond immediate public health concerns. The pandemic resulted in millions of excess human deaths, long-term health burdens, severe economic disruption, and extensive consequences for animal health and welfare. The importance of preventing zoonotic spillover and limiting its spread is underscored by the ongoing outbreak of Ebola, caused by the leathal Bundibugyo virus, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with cross-border spread to Uganda. The World Health Organization classified this outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Ebola transmission is known to be associated with hunting, butchering, and preparation of wild animals for consumption. The current outbreak is therefore a sobering reminder of the consequences when zoonotic pathogens cross species barriers and spread. |
A disease anywhere can be a disease everywhere tomorrow morning. |
Dr. Ali S. Khan, former Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, summed it up perfectly when he said that "a disease anywhere can be a disease everywhere tomorrow morning".
The policy implications could not be clearer. Zoonotic and pandemic response capacity remains essential. But prevention must begin much earlier: by reducing the conditions that allow pathogens to cross species barriers and spread in the first place.
The policy implications could not be clearer. Zoonotic and pandemic response capacity remains essential. But prevention must begin much earlier: by reducing the conditions that allow pathogens to cross species barriers and spread in the first place.
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Read the Alliance's white paper: Live Wildlife Trade and Markets
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