Animal Equality has called on the United Nations to permanently ban all wet markets, an immediate danger to human beings and also terribly cruel towards animals.
Just a few days ago we launched an important international campaign addressed to the United Nations to put an end once and for all to wet markets — the so-called "wet markets" where animals (wild and otherwise) are sold alive, kept in cages and then slaughtered on the spot. Within the space of a week, Animal Equality has collected almost 400,000 signatures from around the world, more than 200,000 of them in Italy alone. It is a truly extraordinary result, but only a first step towards defeating once and for all a genuinely serious problem: that of live animal markets and open-air slaughterhouses.
"Wet markets" take their name in part from the blood and animal remains that cover their floors. In this type of market, live animals coexist alongside the remains of those killed on the spot for customers who want freshly slaughtered meat.
The campaign, which was launched simultaneously in eight countries, includes previously unseen footage filmed by Animal Equality investigators during research carried out in wet markets in China, Vietnam and India, showing animals such as deer, raccoons, crocodiles and dogs in unhygienic conditions and suffering from dehydration, hunger and disease. Exotic animals and those traditionally farmed for food are mixed together in tiny cages and infected enclosures, creating the perfect breeding ground for the development of zoonotic diseases.
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This is not the first time a deadly virus has been linked to the trade and consumption of live animals. The H1N1 influenza (swine flu), Sars and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) are examples of viruses that probably originated in animals and then mutated in humans, causing serious pandemics. Scientists also believe that Covid-19 most likely originated in the Wuhan wet market in China, notorious for its trade in wild animals.
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"If you take wild animals and put them in a market with domestic animals or other animals, where there is the possibility for a virus to make the species jump, you are creating a superhighway for viruses to pass from wild animals to humans. We can't do this any more. We can't tolerate it any more. I want wet markets to be closed for ever," said Ian Lipkin, infectious disease expert.
If you take wild animals and put them in a market with domestic animals or other animals, where there is the possibility for a virus to make the species jump, you are creating a superhighway for viruses to pass from wild animals to humans.Ian Lipkin, infectious disease expert
"These animals have been transported over great distances and crammed into cages. They are stressed and immunosuppressed and are shedding whatever pathogens they carry. With large numbers of people at the market in close contact with the bodily fluids of these animals, you have an ideal combination for the emergence of disease," Andrew Cunningham, professor at the Zoological Society of London, also stated.
The website of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states: "Scientists estimate that more than 6 in 10 known infectious diseases in humans have been spread through contact with animals, and 3 in 4 new or emerging infectious diseases come from animals."
Scholars and specialists in animal behaviour and ethics have also weighed in on the matter, among them Peter Singer, professor of bioethics at Princeton University, and Paola Cavalieri, independent researcher, who have stated that "wet markets where animals are sold and slaughtered should be banned not only in China, but throughout the world."
In an appeal to prevent the possibility of future pandemics, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity's Elizabeth Maruma Mrema spoke in favour of regulating wet markets similar to the one in Wuhan, China. Speaking to the British newspaper The Guardian, she said: "The message we are getting is that if we don't take care of nature, it will take care of us. It would be good to ban live animal markets."
Mrema's statement follows another important call for a ban on wet markets, this time from the director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, the expert who is helping to coordinate the United States response to the Covid-19 emergency, who said in a recent interview: "I think we should shut down wet markets right now. I don't know what else has to happen to make us realise that."
For the time being, however, the UN's official position has yet to be defined, and there appears to be a degree of caution before any formal ban request is made official. For this reason, and because of the serious impact on public health and the intense suffering inflicted on animals, Animal Equality will continue to call on the United Nations to permanently ban all wet markets. These markets not only pose an immediate danger to human beings, but are also terribly cruel and inhumane towards animals.
Wet markets have no place in our society and should be shut down immediately. It is time to consign them to nothing more than a bad memory for everyone.