Data from: the widespread keeping of wild pets in the Neotropics: an overlooked risk for human, livestock, and wildlife health
Zoonoses constitute a major risk to human health. Comprehensive assessments on the potential emergence of novel disease outbreaks are essential to ensure the effectiveness of sanitary controls and to establish mitigating actions. Through a continental-scale survey of rural human settlements conducte...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | conjunto de datos |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/388047 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/388047 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Parrots Zoonoses Earth and related environmental sciences Illegal wildlife trade Poaching Spillover Wildlife Markets |
| Sumario: | Zoonoses constitute a major risk to human health. Comprehensive assessments on the potential emergence of novel disease outbreaks are essential to ensure the effectiveness of sanitary controls and to establish mitigating actions. Through a continental-scale survey of rural human settlements conducted over 13 years in 15 Neotropical countries, we document the vast extent of poaching to meet the local demand for pets, resulting in thousands of families living with ca. 275 species of wild animals without any sanitary controls. Parrots account for ca. 80% of wild pets, dying mostly from diseases at a average age of one year. This culturally rooted tradition, which dates back to pre-Columbian times, may lead to health risks by bringing wild animals prone to carrying parasites and pathogens into close contact with humans and their exotic pets and livestock. Although animal pathogens and parasites have been transmitted to humans for centuries, the current trend of human population growth and connectivity can increase the risk of zoonotic outbreaks spreading at an unprecedented pace. Similarly, disease transmission from humans and poultry to wild animals is also expected to be facilitated via wild pets, leading to conservation problems. Several studies have highlighted the risk posed by wildlife city markets for cross-species disease transmission, ignoring the risk associated with widespread pet ownership of wild animals poached locally in rural areas. Given its geographic and social dimensions, a holistic approach is required to reduce this illegal activity as well as to strengthen health surveillance of seized individuals and people in close contact with poached pets, which would benefit both people and wildlife. |
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