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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Conserv. Sci.
Sec. Conservation Social Sciences
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcosc.2024.1488974
This article is part of the Research Topic Preventing Zoonoses. Promoting Biophilia. View all 6 articles

Love Them & Leave Them: Science-based Rationale for a Campaign at the Public Health-Conservation Interface

Provisionally accepted
Jamie K. Reaser Jamie K. Reaser 1*Hongying Li Hongying Li 2Sean Southey Sean Southey 3
  • 1 Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SI), Front Royal, United States
  • 2 EcoHealth Alliance, New York, New York, United States
  • 3 International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Wild animals have been implicated as the source for disease outbreaks in humans (e.g., bubonic plague, Ebola, Hendra virus). Public health messaging intended to mitigate these zoonotic disease risks can inadvertently induce fear of wildlife, thereby resulting in wildlife culling and habitat destruction. We propose a science-based social marketing campaign -Love Them & Leave Them -to protect people and wildlife. This One Health campaign will be primarily implemented by public health communicators who work with government officials and/or local communities. The campaign's six key messages emphasize the inter-linkages between wildlife and human well-being for pandemic prevention and encourage the campaign target audiences to appreciate (love) wildlife while refraining from touching wildlife or occupying places that wildlife inhabit or feed (leave them…alone). We provide guidance for tailoring the global campaign vision to local ecological and socio-cultural contexts. The campaign is responsive to a recent call by multilateral bodies for governments to prevent pandemics at the source.

    Keywords: biophilia, Communication, Human health, Social Marketing, Zoonoses

    Received: 31 Aug 2024; Accepted: 30 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Reaser, Li and Southey. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jamie K. Reaser, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SI), Front Royal, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.