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Congress Must Act to Protect Wildlife and Avert Future Pandemics

Dear John,

As the world continues to struggle through the COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers are not only responding to the toll of the current crisis--they're also looking to avert future pandemics. The bipartisan "Preventing Future Pandemics Act" (H.R. 151/S. 37) was reintroduced by Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL) and Fred Upton (R-MI) and Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) to address aspects of the wildlife trade that we know are major risk factors for spreading new diseases.

The Preventing Future Pandemics Act prohibits the sale of live wildlife for human consumption within the United States, effectively closing live wildlife markets. It also calls on the State Department to form international coalitions and pursue diplomatic measures to encourage closures of live wildlife markets abroad. These markets, where a dizzying array of wild species are crammed together alongside humans and often slaughtered on-site, provide the optimal conditions for disease spillover.

The bill also dedicates funding to (1) deploy law enforcement officers to countries where there is a flourishing trade in at-risk species and (2) help international communities that rely on wildlife consumption transition to alternative food sources. These measures would reduce interactions with wild species harboring transmissible diseases, and would help to protect animals from the cruel wildlife trade.

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What You Can Do
Please ask your US representative and senators ([link removed]) to cosponsor the Preventing Future Pandemics Act. Then, share this eAlert with your family, friends, and co-workers, and ask them to contact their legislators too. Thank you for taking action to protect wildlife and public health!

Sincerely,

Cathy Liss
President

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Animal Welfare Institute
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The Animal Welfare Institute is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. We seek better treatment of animals everywhere: in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild.

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