Pandemics

“Our disrespect for wild animals and our disrespect for farmed animals has created this situation where disease can spill over to infect human beings.” Jane Goodall

COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, is believed to have originated in a “wet market, ” a market with live animals that are then slaughtered upon purchase. Because the animals are kept in cages in close proximity to one another, animals that would not otherwise come into contact with one another can spread diseases from an animal that has a long-time immunity to a virus to another animal that has no immunity and therefore can be easily infected. In some cases, transmissions can jump to humans, so-called zoonotic diseases,  as was the case with COVID-19 (and MERS, SARS, and similar illnesses).

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) a small number of pets worldwide, including cats and dogs, have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, mostly after close contact with people with COVID-19. Treat pets as you would other human family members – do not let pets interact with people outside the household. If a person inside the household becomes sick, isolate that person from everyone else, including pets.

Here’s what YOU can do:

Reduce your daily footprint on the environment.

Consume fewer products, start your own garden, and avoid single-use plastics. Drive and fly less often, switch to an electric vehicle, and compost your food waste.

Find out where your food comes from.

Family farms are largely gone. Nearly all – 99% – of the meat, dairy, and eggs that we eat comes from concentrated feeding operations, or CAFOs. CAFOs cram tens of thousands of animals together in stressful, unsanitary conditions.

Eat more plants.

Plant-based diets are healthier for you, the animals, and the environment. Visit ForksOverKnives.com for information and recipes.

Ask your legislators to support the Farm System Reform Act in the House of Representatives (H.R.797) and Senate (S.271).

This bill would place a moratorium on CAFOs (“factory farms”) and phase out the largest of them by 2040. CAFOs are terrible for animal welfare, contribute to climate change, have a high rate of physical injury and mental health issues for workers, threaten the economic prosperity of family farms, and make rural communities vulnerable to environmental hazards.