Given the risks to public health during this COVID-19 pandemic, Slaughter Free Los Angeles, Los Angeles Animal Save, and Animal Alliance Network are demanding the closure of all live markets in Los Angeles County. 

Virulent diseases are a natural consequence of keeping animals tightly packed in unhygienic conditions. Two-thirds of all human pathogens are thought to have originated from animal agriculture. The suspension of all businesses involving the slaughter of animals is particularly relevant to today’s global situation. The scary reality that “animal influenza viruses that cross the species divide to infect people are considered novel to humans and therefore have the potential to become pandemic threats.”  

The COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China was connected to a large seafood and live-animal market, suggesting zoonotic characteristics or being spread through animal-to-person contact. Given that the farming, transport, and slaughter of animals is a vector for disease transmission, it’s extremely irresponsible to continue allowing the these practices of thousands of live animals daily in heavily populated urban areas. This is especially true in a state of public emergency, where isolation is key to slowing the spread of disease.

Live markets are commonly places of community concerns including blood spills, ammonia leaks, unpleasant smells, open-air offal bins, airborne particulate matter and debris, public roadways used as holding areas for unattached trailers containing live farmed animals, and even escaped individual animals wandering into the neighboring communities.

These operations are often located in busy urban areas, near residential homes, schools, and bus stops. Low-income, elderly and possibly immune-compromised residents of nearby communities are often disproportionately at risk to succumb to zoonotic illnesses. 

We ask that you help us for the sake of all animals, our health, and our future on this planet. Help shut down all California slaughter businesses. Please sign and share!

Photo by Jo-Anne McAurthor / We Animals