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Wildlife trade can threaten public health

Posted on: Monday, 4 May 2009, 23:39 CDT

The poorly regulated U.S. wildlife trade can lead to devastating effects on ecosystems, native species, food supply and human health, U.S. researchers said.

A team of scientists from the Wildlife Trust, Brown University, Pacific Lutheran University, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Global Invasive Species Program said a global trade in wildlife generates hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

The researchers report that from 2000-2006, the United States imported more than 1.5 billion live animals.

That's more than 200 million animals a year -- unexpectedly high, study co-leader Peter Daszak, president of the Wildlife Trust, said in a statement.

The animals collected from wild populations in more than 190 countries around the world were intended for commercial sale in the United States -- primarily in the pet trade, Daszak said.

The study, published in the journal Science, found that more than 86 percent of shipments contained animals that were not classified to the level of species, making it impossible to assess the full diversity of animals imported or calculate the risk of non-native species introductions or disease transmission.

Shipments are coming in labeled 'live vertebrate' or 'fish,' Daszak said. If we don't know what animals are in there, how do we know which are going to become invasive species or carry diseases that could affect livestock, wildlife -- or ourselves?

The wildlife trade led to disease introductions such as the 2003 monkeypox outbreak following the import of infected African rodents for the pet trade, Daszak said.

Source: United Press International

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