Earlier this month, Harvard Law School and New York University released a comprehensive report unveiling the extent of zoonotic disease threats from animal industries in the United States, and highlighting the US government’s lack of a thorough strategy to address these threats.
The report, Animal Markets and Zoonotic Diseases in the United States, is the first to comprehensively map networks of animal commerce that fuel zoonotic disease risk in the U.S. It analyzes 36 different animal industries, including fur-farming, the exotic pet trade, hunting and trapping, industrial animal agriculture, backyard chicken production, roadside zoos, and more, to assess the risks each poses of generating a large-scale disease outbreak.
This vital report features 50 visuals from We Animals Media (WAM) photojournalists who are on the frontlines documenting animal industries around the globe.
Zoonotic diseases account for approximately 60 percent of all known infectious diseases and 75 percent of new and emerging ones, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state and scale of animal industries in the US means it is particularly susceptible to outbreaks of zoonotic disease, as highlighted in the report’s key findings.
For example, the US produces larger numbers of pigs and poultry than almost any other country, both species carriers of influenza viruses; yet regulation on farms is poor to non-existent. Influenza viruses are widely considered the most likely to give rise to a large-scale human pandemic.
Source: weanimalsmedia.org
Photo Credit: gettyimages-suriyasilsaksom
Categories: New York, Education, Livestock, Beef Cattle, Poultry