Billions of live animals move through the legal and illegal wildlife trade, a massive industry a former CDC epidemiologist described as “pandemic roulette.”
Traded animals move to places they never would have been otherwise, encountering species—and pathogens—they never would have been exposed to in their own habitats. As a result, diseases can spread, mutate and ultimately sicken humans.
“Zoonotic” diseases jumping from animals to humans have driven many of the world’s most consequential outbreaks, including HIV/AIDS, influenza, West Nile virus and, many scientists believe, COVID-19.
Katie and Kiley dug into this story after reporting on mass deaths at Florida’s Sloth World, an investigation that led to calls for reform from lawmakers, a state-led criminal investigation and a short-term ban on sloth imports.
Today they explain what scientists learned from the dead sloths, who’s responsible for zoonotic disease oversight of imported wildlife, and what agencies could be doing to lower the public health risks of the global wildlife trade.
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Reporter, Pittsburgh
Katie Surma is a reporter at Inside Climate News covering the rights of nature movement and international environmental justice. Her work has a strong focus on the intersection of human rights and the environment. Before joining ICN, she practiced law, specializing in commercial litigation. Her journalism work has been recognized by the Overseas Press Club, the Society of International Journalists, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and others. Katie has a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, an LLM in international rule of law and security from ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, a J.D. from Duquesne University, and was a History of Art and Architecture major at the University of Pittsburgh. Katie lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Reporter
Kiley Price is a reporter at Inside Climate News, with a particular interest in wildlife, ocean health, food systems and climate change. She writes ICN’s “Today’s Climate” newsletter, which covers the most pressing environmental news each week.
She earned her master’s degree in science journalism at New York University, and her bachelor’s degree in biology at Wake Forest University. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Time, Scientific American and more. She is a former Pulitzer Reporting Fellow, during which she spent a month in Thailand covering the intersection between Buddhism and the country’s environmental movement.