UEA's professor calls for end to illegal wildlife trade
She warns it helps spread virus
There's a call for the illegal wildlife trade to be abolished worldwide, from a leading scientist at the University of East Anglia.
Prof Diana Bell from UEA's School of Biological Sciences is an expert in emerging zoonotic diseases and was the first to predict a pandemic caused by China's wildlife trade - back in 2004.
She said:
"SARS was the first global pandemic of the 21st century and early cases were linked to wildlife markets in China.
"We happened to be working on wildlife trade and biodiversity conservation, including rare species of civets in neighbouring Vietnam, and we knew that many different species of live wild-caught animals were kept close to each other in the extensive illegal trade route system, markets, restaurants and wildlife 'farms'.
"My colleagues and I suggested that civets were probably infected during the 'speed dating' of zoonotic viruses circulating among the jumble of different animal species packed together at markets or while being transported to markets, often in China but importantly also other countries across SE Asia.
"We warned then that the wildlife trade was a massive threat to human health and indeed biodiversity. But our warnings were not heeded.
"Now it's time for real change and collective action to stop illegal trade in wild animals which mix a vast array of species and of course the pathogens they carry.
"We cannot continue playing Russian roulette with zoonotic viruses and their known potential for causing global pandemics."
But while a ban on China's live wildlife trade, currently in place, is a "major first step", the new reforms do not go far enough Bell says because "wild animal trade for medicinal purposes, fur farms and pet farms may still be allowed, as well as animal parts like elephant ivory, rhino horn, although pangolins are thankfully finally protected".
She added:
"Also aquatic species such as heavily over-exploited freshwater turtles and terrestrial tortoises are not covered by the ban," she added.
"It's also very important that governments of other countries involved in the trade chain of the same wild animals such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao PDR must implement the same bans.
"And there must be continued horizon scanning for other zoonotic pathogens to avoid future pandemics."
Prof Bell also said the illegal pet trade must be abolished.