Emily Beament
| 7th April 2020
Hundreds of wildlife groups worldwide sign open letter to WHO calling for a
ban on wildlife meat trade to stop future potential global pandemics.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) should recommend governments shut down
wild animal markets to prevent future pandemics, conservationists have said.

More than 200 wildlife groups across the world have signed an open letter
calling on WHO to do all it can to prevent new diseases emerging from the
wildlife trade and spreading into global pandemics.

The evidence suggests Covid-19 has animal origins, likely from bats, and may
have come from “wet markets” where live and dead creatures are sold for
eating, leading to a temporary ban on the markets by the Chinese government.

Health

Previous global epidemics including severe acute respiratory syndrome
(Sars) and Ebola have also been linked to viruses that spread from animals
to people.

The letter calls…