New York, July 11 -- The COVID-19 pandemic shows how wildlife crime is a threat not only to the environment but to human health, according to a new UN report issued on Friday.
The World Wildlife Crime Report 2020 outlines how trafficking in some wild species, which are then butchered and sold illegally, can increase the transmission of diseases that spread from animals to humans.
Zoonotic diseases represent up to 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases and include the new coronavirus that caused the global pandemic.
"Transnational organized crime networks are reaping the profits of wildlife crime, but it is the poor who are paying the price," said Ghada Waly, Executive Director at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) which pr...