The authors analyzed 36 animal markets in the United States, including dog breeding, hunting and trapping, livestock auctions, backyard chicken raising and petting zoos. To assess the level of risk posed by each sector, they conducted interviews with experts and reviewed scientific articles, publicly available data, government regulations and more. For each industry, they considered 10 factors, including the number of animals involved, the pathogens they carry and the interactions they have with humans, as well as any relevant biosecurity practices and regulations .
“We just discovered so many things that surprised us,” Dr. Jamieson said, starting with the staggering number of animals used commercially in the United States. The country produces more than 10 billion land animals for food each year, including more pigs and poultry, which can harbor and transmit influenza, than almost any other country, Ms. Linder said. It is also the world’s largest importer of livestock and wildlife, the report said. (More than 220 million live wildlife are imported each year.)
The regulatory landscape, however, is “inconsistent and full of gaps,” Ms. Linder said. Inspections of wildlife imports are spotty, and even when they do occur, they focus on enforcing conservation regulations rather than disease, she said. No federal agency claims jurisdiction over mink farms, which have become Covid-19 hotspots, and before the pandemic, some states did not know how many of these farms were located on their territory, the authors note.
The findings highlight the need for increased regulation and better public education, Dr. Kuchipudi said. Many Americans may not even realize that some of these industries and practices exist, he noted, but “the risk can then affect us all.”
The report is only a starting point, the authors say, and key information – including basic data on the size and location of some animal industries – remains unknown. (People working in some of these industries did not respond to the authors’ questions, Ms. Linder said.) The next step, they said, is to fill some of these data gaps and conduct more details of the riskiest practices.
“These threats exist,” Ms. Linder said, “whether we turn on the lights and face them or whether we just continue to take comfort in the darkness.”