On #GivingTuesdayNow, Your Support is Needed to Tell Their Stories

Dear WAM community,

I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and well during this global crisis. The current Covid-19 pandemic has not only been troubling for so many on an individual level, it has magnified deeper systemic issues around the world.

In response to the pandemic, a new day of global giving and unity, #GivingTuesdayNow, will be taking place on Tuesday, May 5th. I am writing to you today to please ask you to join We Animals Media to support an end to one of the major contributors of outbreaks like Covid-19: the capture and use of animals.

The cause of the most recent outbreak, Covid-19, is still uncertain. It has however been suggested that the pangolin, known as “the most illegally traded mammal in the world,” is the most likely host of the virus. A shy, elusive and nocturnal animal in the wild, the pangolin would usually pose no threat to people. If pangolins are a host of Covid-19, then it is only due to the illegal smuggling and use of these animals that this deadly virus has been spread to humans.

The current pandemic is similar to the 2002 SARS outbreak that originated in China, which was thought to have been spread from bats to palm civets and then to humans.

Only this time, the situation is significantly worse and many more human lives are being lost as a result of animal use.

Several outbreaks have occurred due the transmission of disease from farmed animals to humans. Over 1.5 million people have been infected due to these outbreaks, with the H5N1 bird flu killing over 50% of people who were infected.

Not only are animals who are sold live at markets or raised in factory farms suffering from horrendous cruelty, humans are now sick and dying from one of the deadliest outbreaks in the last one hundred years.

It has never been more critical that the world be educated to the consequences of the wild animal trade and factory farming. Please stand with We Animals Media this #GivingTuesdayNow to make real and lasting change for animals.

I have been documenting the plight of animals for almost two decades, and with the rest of the We Animals Media team, it is our mission to make sure the world is aware of the suffering of animals worldwide.

Will you help us tell the stories of the animal use that causes pandemics?

Our work has never been as important as it is today!