Push for total Thai ban on wildlife trade

Activists campaigning against wildlife crime say Thailand could be a global leader in stopping pandemics by further cracking down on and ceasing to be a gateway for the illegal wildlife trade.

They believe this would help stop animal-to-human disease transmission.

They said scientific information has shown that the majority of emerging diseases usually originate from wet markets where wild animals are caged.

Speaking at a press conference to launch a global campaign “Endpandemics” on Wednesday, Steven Galster, the founder of Freeland who started the campaign aimed at the global community in April when the Covid-19 pandemic expanded globally, called on the government to take more aggressive action to ban the commercial trade in wild animals.

He said the nation could return to its top place in the region in the fight against the illegal wildlife trade under the framework of the Asean Wildlife Enforcement Network known as ASEAN-WEN.

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APINYA WIPATAYOTIN