Wildlife Trade Can Threaten Human and Animal Health Says The Wildlife Trust Alliance: Emerging Disease Outbreaks Demonstrate Need for Major Reassessment of Wildlife Trade Practices: Declaration Signed Today by Scientists from 10 Countries
Many emerging diseases such as SARS, monkeypox and HIV/AIDS originate in wild animals and are serious threates to global public health. The Wildlife Trust Alliance today called for a reassessment of current wildlife trade practices.
Bangalore, India (PRWEB) January 16, 2004
Responding to emerging diseases such as SARS, monkeypox, and HIV/AIDS that originated in wild animals and have become serious threats to global public health, The Wildlife Trust Alliance, an international network of leading national conservation organizations, today called for a reassessment of current wildlife trade practices. Dr. Mary Pearl, President of New York-based Wildlife Trust, Inc., the Convenor of the Alliance, says, “If disease issues linked to wild animal trade are not addressed, there can be serious health consequences. SARS alone killed over 700 people and cost US$ 50 billion to the global economy, affecting developed and developing countries alike. Most wild-caught animals found in pet shops and food markets have never been tested for diseases and parasites that can harm humans and other animals.”
In a declaration signed today by scientists from 10 countries – Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Sri Lanka, the United States, and Venezuela – Wildlife Trust Alliance members called on the world’s governments and international organizations; on their scientific, conservation and health agencies; academia; non-governmental organizations; and on the public who ultimately control these trades, to enact a program to reassess the trade in wildlife by:
1) Increasing public awareness about the destruction of wildlife and the spread of diseases associated with their trade;
2) Improving disease surveillance of the wildlife trade for pathogens of humans, livestock and wildlife;
3) Promoting adequate and standardized quarantine procedures and health documentation for wildlife transported across borders;
4) Funding research to understand and forecast the risks of disease transmission to people, livestock and wildlife;
5) Enhancing the capacity to monitor and enforce regulations on the trade in wildlife so that there is more effective oversight;
6) Strengthening legislation, the capacity for law enforcement and prosecution of people involved in illegal trade; and
7) Providing resources to strengthen local capacity to address these issues.
Around 75% of the emerging diseases affecting people are zoonotic (originate from wild or domestic animals and spread to humans), and a rising number of life-threatening diseases are being spread around the world by wildlife trade. Monkeypox, a serious infection caused by a virus of African primates and rodents was introduced into the U. S. in 2003 via Gambian rats that had become popular as exotic pets. The global outbreak of SARS originated in wild animals traded for food. In Africa, outbreaks of Ebola virus have repeatedly been linked to the hunting and transport of meat taken from wild animals infected by the virus. North American bullfrogs exported to Latin America from the U. S. to stock farms for the restaurant trade are hotspots for disease.
Trade in wildlife also threatens livestock. In March 2000, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) banned the import and interstate commerce of three types of African tortoises because African ticks carrying heartwater were found on imported tortoises. Heartwater is a disease of cattle, sheep and goats, and can cause mortality rates of 60% in cattle and up to 100% in sheep. Virulent strains of Newcastle disease, a lethal disease of poultry, have occurred in pet birds in the U. S. in all but three years since 1974. In 1971, a pet bird strain of the virus struck the poultry industry in California. Eradication took over two years and cost US$ 56 million in federal funds, and almost 12 million birds had to be destroyed.
Dr. Jon Paul RodrÃguez, President of the Caracas, Venezuela-based organization Provita, and lead author of the Alliance declaration, says, “The negative effects of illegal wildlife trade on native species – whether because of direct exploitation or the spread of invading exotic species and disease, or by the threats posed to human well-being because of exposure to wildlife pathogens – clearly outweigh the economic benefits. For the most part, those benefits accrue to small groups of people, often operating outside of the law and linked with illegal activities such as drug and weapon smuggling.”
The scale of wildlife trade is large: the illegal trade alone is estimated at US$ 6.2 billion, according to Interpol, making it among the worldÂ’s most lucrative criminal activities. The group defines wildlife trade as any commercial transaction involving wild animals, dead or alive, and their parts and products.
About Wildlife Trust
Wildlife Trust is a pre-eminent, global wildlife conservation organization founded in 1971 and headquartered in Palisades, New York. It works to empower local conservation scientists worldwide to protect nature and safeguard ecosystems and human health. Wildlife TrustÂ’s four priorities are: applied wildlife science, conservation medicine, conservation education and professional development. Further information on Wildlife Trust can be found on its website, www. wildlifetrust. org.
The Wildlife Trust Alliance expert team on wildlife trade and health includes the following:
Dr. MartÃn Acosta, ornithologist and Director of the Museum Felipe Poey of the Havana University (Cuba)
Dr. Alonso Aguirre, wildlife veterinarian and Director for Conservation Medicine, Wildlife Trust (United States and Mexico)
Pablo Bordino, M. Sc., marine biologist and Director of AquaMarina (Argentina)
Dr. Damayanti Buchori, conservation entomologist, Director of PEKA, and Department Chair, Plant Pests and Disease, IPB (Indonesia)
Lorena Calvo, M. Sc., tropical ecologist and Executive Director of CCBG (Guatemala)
Dr. Peter Daszak, wildlife parasitologist and Executive Director of Wildlife TrustÂ’s Consortium for Conservation Medicine (United States)
Susan Elbin, M. S., behavioral ecologist and Senior Program Officer at Wildlife Trust (United States)
Dr. Jonathan Epstein, wildlife veterinarian and Senior Program Officer of Wildlife TrustÂ’s Consortium for Conservation Medicine (United States)
Dr. Pruthu Fernando, conservation biologist (Sri Lanka)
Dr. A. Marm Kilpatrick, ecologist of emerging diseases and Senior Research Scientist of Wildlife TrustÂ’s Consortium for Conservation Medicine (United States)
Dr. Fred Koontz, behavioral ecologist and Executive Vice-President of Wildlife Trust (United States)
Dr. Ani Mardiastuti, ornithologist at IPB and wildlife trade researcher (Indonesia)
Dr. Scott Newman, wildlife veterinarian and conservation medicine scientist at Wildlife Trust (United States)
Alida Madero, M. Sc., conservation educator and Latin American Editor of Jóvenes Aventureros, Wildlife Trust (Mexico)
Dr. Rodrigo MedellÃn, mammal ecologist and Professor at the National University of Mexico (Mexico)
Dr. Claudio Padua, Co-coordinator of the Alliance and head of research for the IPE – Institute for Ecological Research (Brazil)
Suzana M. Padua, M. A., environmental educator and President of IPE – Institute for Ecological Research (Brazil).
Dr. Mary Pearl, primatologist, President of Wildlife Trust and Co-coordinator of the Alliance (United States)
Dr. James A. Powell, marine biologist and Director for Aquatic Conservation at Wildlife Trust (United States)
Dr. Jon Paul RodrÃguez, tropical ecologist, authority on Latin American wildlife trade, President of Provita, researcher at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Investigation, and lead author on statement (Venezuela)
Dr. R. Sukumar, Professor of Ecology at the Indian Institute of Science and Honorary Director of the Asian Elephant Research and Conservation Centre, Bangalore (India)
For more information, to speak with Dr. Mary Pearl or to obtain a copy of the Wildlife Trust Alliance Declaration or fact sheet on wildlife trade, please contact Davia Temin or Jane Trombley of Temin and Company, at 212-588-8788 or info@teminandco. com.
###
