KAMPALA — The World Animal Protection has launched a digital campaign calling for an end to wildlife trade aimed at protecting wildlife and preventing future zoonotic pandemics.
The new campaign targets South Africa and other G-20 leaders to support a permanent wildlife trade ban, in the wake of new research that suggests that the coronavirus pandemic has origins in wild animals.
The pandemic, which has sofar left over 9 million people ill and killed over 800,000, is thought to have originated from a wet market in Wuhan, China, where wild animals were sold.
Scientists suggest that the virus came from bats, and moved to humans via an intermediary animal, potentially a pangolin, the most illegally traded mammal in the world.
Edith Kabesiime, Campaigns Manager at World Animal Protection
says the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies can bring about a collective response and global answers to the COVID-19 pandemic and future zoonotic pandemics.
“We can no longer afford to leave this to chance. A global wildlife trade ban is the only way to end the cruelty and protect our health and economies,” she says.
She adds: “Animals like lions are at the centre of a cruel multi-billion-dollar business that exploits them on an industrial scale. Their bones are traded as medicine, bred in captivity, enduring a life of suffering. They are deprived of the life they would have in the wild. They are shipped around as freight, treated as mere commodities, with their wellbeing ignored. They are crammed into cages, kept in poor health, and often killed for their body parts. This is a business that is inherently cruel”.
The organization is also working with media, social media influencers and the general public across the globe to put pressure on the G20 Countries to end the trade.
Members of the public can join and sign the petition here
Petition link. https://www.worldanimalprotection.or.ke/global-wildlife-trade-ban
The petition will be collected and presented to the G20 leaders in November.