Put legal wildlife trade on new Parliament’s agenda to prevent future pandemics

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised concern about the increasing frequency and severity of infectious diseases, particularly those that arise from animals. The majority of emerging infectious diseases, including the ones with pandemic potential, originate in animals. Yet, human factors drive the risk of these diseases moving from animals to humans, sometimes with devastating consequences. Key drivers of pandemic risk include climate change, urban expansion, population increases and displacement, and increasing wealth (and the corresponding increase in demand for meat and animal companions). A common risk factor is the increased human contact with animal populations, particularly those we have had minimal contact with previously. The time to prevent the next pandemic is now, and while we can’t eliminate all pandemic drivers, curbing the commercial trade in wild animals is one of the most practical strategies for mitigating risk. While there is still debate about the origins of COVID-19, this virus most likely originated in animals and spilled over to humans through an animal caught up in the wildlife trade. This isn’t a surprise. The 2002 SARS outbreak was traced back to caged civets (a wild mammal commercially bred for luxury meat and coffee) at a wildlife market in China. Fortunately, there is strong support among Canadians and across political party lines for government action on this issue. During our recent federal election, the Conservatives committed to closing poorly regulated wildlife markets globally and ending the importation and trade in wild or exotic animals and their products, while the NDP committed to curb the import and domestic trade of wild animals. The Liberals committed to curb the illegal wildlife trade. But disease-causing microbes do not care whether they entered a country legally or illegally. While more resources are needed to support existing efforts to stop illegally shipped animals and products, we need to pay more attention to a rapidly growing and grossly unregulated legal trade that is fuelling the illegal trade and posing serious public health and ecological risks. Existing import restrictions are based almost exclusively on conservation objectives, without consideration of infectious disease or animal welfare concerns. The legal trade is likely several orders of magnitude larger than the illegal trade, and every year, millions of wild animals, products, and derivatives are legally imported into Canada to be kept as exotic pets or used for research, entertainment, food, trophies and trinkets, and farmed for traditional medicine and fashion. World Animal Protection’s analysis of import records found approximately two million live wild animals were imported into Canada between 2014 and 2020, from 79 different countries, including known emerging disease hotspots. It’s estimated that more than 90 per cent of those imported animals were not subject to any restrictions or government permits, and presumably none were subject to a risk assessment or screened for pathogens. There are no federal animal quarantine facilities, and no contact tracing, post-importation surveillance or mandatory reporting of any diseases identified after arrival. Also, there are important information gaps, like the names of species that are being traded, the purpose of the trade, the countries they are coming from, why they are being imported, where they are going, and whether they were wild-caught or captive-bred. While the full scope of the problem is unknown, we would be naïve to think that it is minor. COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on this problem, which governments around the world are starting to address. Germany has agreed to reduce the trade in wild animals for pets, ban the sale of wild caught animals, and set up a centralized trade register. A bipartisan U.S. bill, The Preventing Future Pandemics Act, would, if passed, prohibit the import and export of wildlife for human consumption and medicine. China has banned the farming and consumption of many terrestrial wild animals and is providing subsidies to help wildlife farmers transition to alternative livelihoods. And Italy, which currently holds the G20 Presidency, has announced its intentions to ban the import and trade of wild and exotic animals. There is little benefit to society from wildlife imports, yet all Canadians bear the risks and ultimate consequences. Preventative actions focused on legal imports will be key to protecting the health of Canadians, animals, and our economy from future infectious diseases, including future pandemics. The new Parliament must ensure that Canada is doing its part to protect itself, animals and the international community. Dr. Scott Weese is a veterinary internist and director of the University of Guelph Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses. Melissa Matlow is the Canadian campaign director for World Animal Protection. The Hill Times