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News

(March 14, 2022) A new study in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, led by scientists from WCS, confirms that pangolins confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Viet Nam host SARS-CoV-2 related coronaviruses. The findings are further evidence that the transnational nature of the wildlife trade can facilitate coronavirus and other viral transmission and amplification along the trade chain. "Eliminating the trade in pangolins and other wild mammals and birds will eliminate this hig...

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(February 10, 2022) The virus doesn't appear to make them very sick. Spread in new hosts could lead to new variants that cause trouble for people and wildlife later on, though. "We need wildlife surveillance,” says WCS's Sarah Olson. Read VOX story: "There’s a Covid-19 epidemic in deer. It could come back to haunt us." Photo Tim Lewthwaite

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(December 03, 2021) In a consensus decision aimed at protecting the world from future infectious diseases crises, a special session of the World Health Assembly agreed to launch a global process to draft and negotiate a convention, agreement or other international instrument under the Constitution of the World Health Organization to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. The following statement is from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Vice President for International Policy...

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(November 23, 2021) The discovery by a team of scientists, including from WCS, along with the recent detection of the closest ancestors of SARS-CoV-2 known to date in cave-dwelling bats in Laos, indicates that SARS-CoV-2-related viruses that cause COVID-19 have a much wider geographic distribution than previously reported. It also further supports the hypothesis that the pandemic originated via spillover of a bat-borne virus. Said Dr. Lucy Keatts of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Health Program ...

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(October 20, 2021) The greatest danger of new pandemics often lies in disturbed landscapes, says WCS's Chris Walzer. When humans, their livestock, and dogs take up residence in previously wild places, this unnatural interface allows people and animals to swap new infectious pathogens. Read more in this Mongabay article: In harm’s way: Our actions put people and wildlife at risk of disease 

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