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Wildlife Trade

All articles tagged with #wildlife trade

Wildlife trade linked to human-pathogen sharing across mammals
science1 day ago

Wildlife trade linked to human-pathogen sharing across mammals

A Science study quantifies the pathogen spillover risk from the global wildlife trade: among 2,079 traded mammal species, about 41% share one or more pathogens with humans, compared with 6.4% of non-traded mammals. Live-trade increases transmission risk, illegal trade plays only a modest role, and species in trade tend to accumulate more pathogens over time (about one extra pathogen per decade of presence). The authors hope the findings inform trade regulations to help curb future pandemics.

Raccoon Dogs Identified as Likely Origin of COVID-19 Pandemic.
science3 years ago

Raccoon Dogs Identified as Likely Origin of COVID-19 Pandemic.

Genetic data from a market in Wuhan, China, has been found linking the coronavirus with raccoon dogs for sale there, adding evidence to the case that the pandemic could have been ignited by an infected animal that was being dealt through the illegal wildlife trade. The jumbling together of genetic material from the virus and the animal does not prove that a raccoon dog itself was infected, but the analysis did establish that raccoon dogs deposited genetic signatures in the same place where genetic material from the virus was left, consistent with a scenario in which the virus had spilled into humans from a wild animal.