End the Lockdown for Animals – Reflecting and Campaigning on Three Key Arenas of Human-Animal Interaction Linked to Zoonotic Diseases.

Abstract

Covid-19, SARS, MERS, Ebola, avian influenza: Wake-up calls for humanity to reassess our relationship with animals and the natural world. 73% of emerging infectious diseases in humans are zoonotic, originating in animals. Together, zoonoses account for billions of illnesses and millions of deaths across the globe. Their spread has direct connections to our use and misuse of animals, trapped, traded, bred, raised, confined, transported in ways that pose a serious risk for the development of zoonotic pathogens with the potential to infect human populations. In order to prevent future pandemics, three key animal protection issues must be tackled: the trade of live wild animals; the intensive confinement of animals farmed for food; fur farming and the fur trade.