The illegal wildlife trade is a multi-faceted, clandestine industry that has led to the disruption of fragile ecosystems, facilitated the spread of pathogens, and has led to the emergence of novel infectious diseases in humans, domestic animals, and native wildlife(1, 2). The trade is as diverse as it is large, with live and dead wildlife representing multiple species sold to satisfy human demands for food, medicine, pets and trophies. Wildlife are harvested at astonishing numbers and used for such things as exotic pets, ornamental jewelry and clothing, and traditional Chinese medicine(3). An estimated 75% of recently emerging infectious diseases originated from animals(4), which can include both live animals and animal products.
Objective
We aim to develop an automated, real-time, comprehensive, global system for monitoring official and unofficial reports of illegal wildlife trade activity, and to determine potential hot-spot regions for emerging zoonotic pathogens along commonly utilized illegal wildlife trade routes.