Issue

COVID-19 Response

While the spread of COVID-19 continues, we must also prepare for — with the intention to prevent — the next pandemic

Global outbreaks of zoonotic diseases — like COVID-19, a novel coronavirus disease — are on the rise. Zoonotic diseases are the cause of most epidemics and pandemics, including the deadliest, and they need only a human-animal interaction to arise. Given the increasing incursion of human beings into wildlife habitat around the world and the growing demand for meat and other animal products, it’s not a question of “if” there will be another zoonotic-derived pandemic but “when.” Therefore, even as governments mobilize to limit the staggering impact of COVID-19, it is imperative that they also take urgent action to prevent the next pandemic.

COVID-19 Policy Recommendations

Pandemics have not only been predicted, they are also preventable. While the country continues to fight COVID-19, we must also prepare for — with the intention to prevent — the next pandemic. The Animal Legal Defense Fund is developing a series of papers, each outlining policy strategies calibrated to reduce specific zoonotic risks.

This paper seeks to outline policies and reforms to wild animal exhibition and captivity to reduce, and ultimately eliminate, the inherent risk of zoonotic disease exacerbated by proximity, stress, and other conditions to which many animals are subjected.

This paper seeks to outline policies and reforms to prevent the proliferation of zoonotic disease, like COVID-19, in order to protect public health and animals by reducing the threats posed by factory farming conditions.

This paper seeks to identify the root causes of zoonotic disease and to offer solutions that will mitigate pandemic risk by reimagining the human-animal interactions that have contributed to the current crisis and are presently laying the groundwork for the next.

 

COVID-19 Webinars

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COVID-19 Articles

turkeys

The Next Global Pandemic Could Already Be Here

An outbreak of bird flu in North and South Carolina this past March serves as a warning that the next pandemic pathogen may already be brewing.
chickens

As COVID Pummels Slaughterhouse Workers, Meat Companies Won’t Slow Down

The USDA and its meat corporation clientele are resisting calls to halt or even delay slaughterhouses’ adoption of the controversial high-speed, deregulated pig and poultry slaughter inspection systems.
dog

The Hidden Dangers of Lockdown Orders for Domestic Violence Victims and Companion Animals

As shelter-in-place orders are given across the nation, there is a growing concern that family violence will be on the rise.
pigs

Stimulus Packages Require Forward Thinking to Safeguard America’s Future Health

Animal Legal Defense Fund calls on Congress to respond to COVID-19 by proactively addressing the root causes of pandemics

The Animal Legal Defense Fund has made financial assistance available to law schools that have been forced to cancel Animal Law courses and law students that have been financially affected by the COVID-19 crisis.

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