Attitudes towards Wildlife Consumption inside and outside Hubei Province, China, in Relation to the SARS and COVID-19 Outbreaks

Low pangolin consumption in Hong Kong pre- and post- the COVID-19 outbreak: Conservation and health concerns both contribute to people’s attitudes

“…For the 26.7% of participants in 2020 who did change their attitudes towards pangolin consumption from five years ago, conservation concerns for pangolins were considered the most prominent factor for their more negative attitudes toward consumption. When it comes to wildlife consumption, raising conservation awareness remains one of the most recommended solutions to demand reduction ( Lee et al, 2009 , Liu et al, 2020 , Zhang et al, 2008 , Zhang and Yin, 2014 ). On the contrary, Moorhouse et al (2017) found that in the case of exotic pets, conservation impacts did not influence consumer choices, while legality and zoonotic risk did.…”

Animal Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and the Welfare of Animals during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…China also reclassified dogs as "pets," rather than as livestock, in a move towards reducing consumption of these animals [25]. Wildlife species may also have benefited from the pandemic; as news spread of a so-called "wet market" [26] being the virus's putative origin, such markets were temporarily banned by the Chinese government [27], consumer demand for exotic wildlife declined [28], and trafficking of wildlife also declined, although only temporarily [29]. At the same time, however, some wildlife research and rehabilitation organizations were called upon to slow or cease their engagement with wildlife populations.…”

“…Similarly, the shortage of caregivers has resulted in the premature euthanasia of many lab animal species housed in research facilities around the world [54], and the lack of volunteers and reduction of employees engaged in conservation work has increased the activities of poachers and wildlife traffickers, even as public demand for exotic animal goods waivers in the uncertainty of the pandemic's putative source [28].…”

“…The pandemic may provide a unique opportunity to reduce human appetite for exotic wildlife products [28,276], and some have suggested that wildlife conservation agencies capitalize carefully on the new public awareness of zoonoses in advertising campaigns aimed at reducing demand for wildlife products and increasing social distancing [277]. These authors also call for a strengthening of wildlife protection laws, and stricter monitoring of places and processes by which wildlife products, legally or otherwise, enter the marketplace.…”

Policymaker perceptions of COVID-19 impacts, opportunities and challenges for sustainable wildlife farm management in Vietnam

“…The narrative that animal pathogens were transmitted to humans, for example, led to global advocacy campaigns around the banning of commercial wildlife trade ( Shreedhar and Mourato, 2020 , Turcios-Casco and Gatti, 2020 ), conservation, human health, and animal welfare standards ( Aguirre et al, 2020 , Roe et al, 2020 ). In response to speculative narratives around the virus’s origins being linked to wildlife, increasing efforts have been made to explore and understand wildlife-related food safety ( Alongi, 2020 , Wei, 2020 , Yuan et al, 2020 ), with significant changes in consumer attitudes towards consuming wildlife, particularly in China ( Liu et al, 2020 ). Meanwhile in 2020, Chinese legislature banned all terrestrial wildlife for food consumption ( Huang et al, 2021 ), increasing hopes for China stopping wildlife trade and becoming a model for many countries to follow.…”