British comedian Ricky Gervais says wildlife markets need to shut down in the wake of COVID-19.
“For the sake of people and animals, wildlife trade and consumption has to end, now,” the longtime vegetarian and animal lover told the Mirror on Saturday.
“We can’t carry on exploiting animals, eating wildlife and trashing the planet. The wildlife trade and markets have to close, otherwise it will be a case of when, and not if, we have another global pandemic,” he said after reviewing footage of wildlife markets in Indonesia where bats, snakes and dogs were dumped on a street for sale.
“How bad does this have to get before you close down Indonesia’s extreme animal markets that pose the exact same risk as the wildlife wet markets in Wuhan, China?”
The coronavirus is believed to have started at a wet market in Wuhan.
Celebrities Condemn Wet Markets
A growing number of celebrities have used their platforms to call for global shut down of live animal markets. Earlier today, Sir Paul McCartney urged world leaders to ban the markets.
“I really hope that [coronavirus] will mean that the Chinese government will say, ‘OK, guys, we have really got to get super hygienic around here.’ Let’s face it, it is a little bit medieval eating bats,” McCartney said.
Queen’s guitarist Brian May also spoke out in the wake of the coronavirus, suggesting that a vegan future is the only way forward following the pandemic.
“That’s a central issue here, this pandemic seemed to come from people eating animals,” he told NME. “And it’s becoming more well known that eating animals is not the greatest thing for our health.”
Expert immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci recently condemned the live animal trade for playing a role in viral pandemics.
“I think we should shut down those things right away,” Fauci said on the “Fox & Friends” morning news show.
He continued: “It boggles my mind how when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human-animal interface, that we don’t just shut it down. I don’t know what else has to happen to get us to appreciate that…because what we’re going through right now, is a direct result of that.”
