There are times of spectacular policy myopia – and promoting a revision to the Meat Safety Act by the South African government is surely one of these moments. In late February the government proposed adding over 90 local and non-indigenous species to the list of animals regulated under the Meat Safety Act. Prior to this […]
Tag: wildlife trade
Petition: Shut Down Illegal Online Wildlife Trade!
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, China and other countries temporarily banned the wildlife trade. However, wildlife trade hasn’t actually stopped, It unfortunately just moved online. This is terrible for many reasons — it affects animals who are already endangered, still poses a risk to public health, and it’s difficult to regulate the wildlife trade online. […]
Sixth mass extinction of wildlife accelerating, scientists warn
The sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating, according to an analysis by scientists who warn it may be a tipping point for the collapse of civilisation. More than 500 species of land animals were found to be on the brink of extinction and likely to be lost within 20 years. In comparison, […]
‘Don’t let your cat outside’: Q&A with author Peter Christie
The statistics capturing the effects that pets have on wildlife are mind-boggling. Cats in the United States alone kill at least 1.3 billion birds and up to 22.3 billion small mammals a year, according to a 2013 study in the journal Nature Communications. Cats and dogs “are now the most abundant carnivores on the planet,” […]
South Africa traffics thousands of endangered wild animals to China in ‘corrupt and growing’ trade, investigation finds
South African traders with China are illegally selling thousands of wild animals threatened with extinction and endangered, under the guise of legal exports, according to an investigation. Monkeys have been stolen from the wild, and together with cheetahs, tigers, rhinos, lions and meerkats, they have been trafficked to circuses, theme parks, laboratories, zoos and “safari […]
It’s time to implement solutions that make the bushmeat trade unnecessary (commentary)
The coronavirus has rocked the foundations of societies across the globe. Since the virus originated in wildlife, there has been public outcry demanding the closure wildlife meat markets. Neglected thus far, however, is consideration of the highly destructive and ongoing mass trade of wildlife by bushmeat hunters in rural Asian, African, and South American communities—an […]
Coronavirus fears as China plans to protect vast mink and fox fur industry from backlash at wildlife trade
China is considering moves that would entrench its vast fur industry further into the country’s economy, raising worries over the spread of coronavirus among animals crowded together in small spaces. The country’s agriculture ministry is proposing to reclassify mink, raccoon dogs, silver foxes and blue foxes as domestic livestock, rather than wild animals, which they […]
Petition: Markets in Vietnam are Still Selling Wild Animals
Similar to Indonesia, a market in Vietnam is reportedly still selling rats and reptiles, spiking concerns about coronavirus. Scientists believe the coronavirus pandemic started when the virus was transmitted from an animal at an exotic animal market in China to a human. According to the Mirror, Thanh Hoa Bird Market outside Ho Chi Minh City […]
