Experts are calling for urgent action to radically overhaul our relationship with animals to protect public health – they say the fur trade is a ticking time bomb
Filthy farms and markets packed full of sick, distressed animals are potential breeding grounds for deadly new viruses that can jump from animals to humans. Some of the world’s leading health experts have warned that to prevent future pandemics the fur trade should end, calling it a ticking time bomb, as well as raising the alarm about wet markets and illegal wildlife trade.
Others are extremely worried about the highly unnatural conditions of factory farms – where up to tens of thousands of animals are crowded together indoors. They warn it could provide the perfect environment for the rapid spread of viruses and bacteria to many animals.
It comes as the Mirror can reveal the first ever UK case of ‘reverse zoonosis’ as human flu has been found in a factory-farmed pig. The finding was buried within government surveillance documents from a Northern Ireland pig farm.
This discovery raises significant concerns about zoonotic and reverse zoonotic disease risks, as the affected farm also reported swine flu among its pigs. Similar human-to-pig transmissions have been documented in the United States, but this critical UK case had not been publicly highlighted until now.
Dale Vince, founder of the Green Britain Foundation, issued a stark warning: “We’ve seen bird flu in humans and now buried in a government report we’ve found evidence of human flu in pigs for the first time.
“How long will we wait before these preventable diseases trigger another pandemic? We need to overhaul our relationship with animals and radically rethink our food systems.”
Scientists say the stress of being held captive damages animals’ immune systems and increases the scale of “virus shedding”, putting us all at risk of zoonotic diseases – those spreading from animals to humans.
Dr Hope Ferdowsian, University of New Mexico School of Medicine was part of group of experts who last month urged MPs to bring in a fur export ban in the UK to help bring an end to the trade for good “to prevent future outbreaks and pandemics, and for the sake of public health”. She was joined by Dr Jakob Zinsstag from the University of Basel speaking out to sound the alarm on the ticking time bomb that is the fur trade.
He said: “There is clear evidence that fur farming poses a significant risk of zoonotic disease emergence and as part of efforts to prevent the next pandemic, we must move away from high-risk practices such as intensive fur farming and activities which support them.”
Earlier this year, a study of animals farmed for fur in China also identified 39 viruses classed as “potentially high-risk” for transmission to humans.
There were at least 422 Covid outbreaks at 289 European and North American mink farms from April 2020 to February 2021. The UK shut its last fur farm in 2003 but it has imported pelts worth over €900m since. Now a Bill is being debated by Parliament which could ensure that the UK is once again a world leader by supporting a ban on the import and sale of fur.
Claire Bass, senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane World for Animals UK, said: “Fur farms are a ticking time bomb for deadly infectious diseases, all for a completely outdated ‘fashion’ product that no-one needs.”
Although much of the bushmeat trade serves a domestic market in West and Central Africa, there is also an illegal and international trade, serving African expat communities living as far afield as London, Paris, Brussels and New York. Body parts are also used in traditional medicine – part of an international racket.
Experts have warned that the bushmeat trade is not only a threat to wild animals, such as Chimpanzees and other primates, but could result in more zoonotic diseases being transmitted to humans.
Dr Ben Garrod, Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at the University of East Anglia explained: “Airlines and border agencies are great at stopping people, drugs and weapons from being smuggled. But here we are with something more fundamentally dangerous than any act of terrorism or natural disaster, yet it is allowed to go largely unchecked.
“Until those transporting products of animal origins internationally are stopped, we are going to see primates, pangolins and other exotic, endangered animals coming into the UK, Europe, USA and Asia. Unless that stops we are going to see more epidemics and more species in decline.”
He also warned of the dangers of so-called ‘wet markets’ or other commercial wildlife markets as well as high-density ‘mega-farms’. He said: “These places all provide the perfect conditions for the development and spread of disease, where multiple species are exposed to one another, typically in high numbers, often in highly stressful and unsanitary conditions.
“Mixing wild and domestic species and species from different biological groups, such as birds, reptiles, and mammals, increases the likelihood of disease developing but also mutating, to a point where they are able to ‘jump’ between species. Adding humans into the mix only makes matters worse. It’s a biological time bomb just waiting to go off.”
Sonul Badiani-Hamment, FOUR PAWS UK Country Director added: “Five years ago, the world came to a standstill as the COVID-19 pandemic forced governments to confront the undeniable link between animal welfare and human health. Yet today, intensive farms and wet markets still operate unchecked — a ticking time bomb for the next global health crisis. The evidence is clear: when animals suffer, humans suffer. To break this dangerous cycle, we must end all involvement in and association with high-risk industries like the fur trade, where animals are farmed in appalling conditions with no regard for the serious threats to public health.”
In response to the case of reverse zoonosis, a spokesman for the Animal and Plant Heath Authority said: “The risk to human health remains low. While the identification of this case does not represent a threat to humans, this rare event highlights the importance of timely and robust surveillance of viruses that can transmit between humans and animals.
“That’s why we have several national and international programmes dedicated to the diagnosis, research and surveillance of influenza in pig populations, and continue to work closely with farmers, animal keepers, vets, the UKHSA and across government.”
