“We can stop the illegal wildlife trade which has caused the deadliest diseases of our lifetimes including HIV, SARS and Covid19,” wrote Cox.

Earlier this week actor Courteney Cox took to Instagram to wish her fans “Happy Earth Day” and discuss the importance of protecting our ecosystem and putting an end to the illegal wildlife trade.

Posting a picture of her sitting on a wooden swing with lush greenery as a backdrop, she wrote alongside the post: “Happy Earth Day everyone!

“By protecting our natural ecosystems, we can stop the illegal wildlife trade which has caused the deadliest diseases of our lifetimes including HIV, SARS and #covid19.”

In the same post, Cox urged fans to help Space for Giants – an international conservation organization that works to preserve African wildlife landscapes for vulnerable elephants-  in an effort to protect the ecosystem.

“This #earthday help @spaceforgiants protect ecosystems and promote a #ahealthyearth,” she added.

View this post on Instagram

Happy Earth Day everyone! By protecting our natural ecosystems, we can stop the illegal wildlife trade which has caused the deadliest diseases of our lifetimes including HIV, SARS and #covid19. This #earthday help @spaceforgiants protect ecosystems and promote a #ahealthyearth! 🌳🌍🌞

A post shared by Courteney Cox (@courteneycoxofficial) on Apr 22, 2020 at 10:15am PDT

The novel coronavirus, which Cox believes to have originated from wildlife trade, has been linked by experts to a wet market in Wuhan, China, where exotic animals, dead and alive, are sold for meat.

The virus to date has infected more than 2.6 million people and more than 185,440 have died.

Permanent ban

A number of celebrities including Brian May, Ricky Gervais and Paul McCartney have called on governments to ban wet markets.

In addition, America’s chief infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci also mentioned that the ongoing public health crisis is a “direct result” of the thriving wet animal markets. He too called for a global shutdown of wet animal markets.

In an interview on Fox & Friends, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told host Brian Kilmeade: “I think we should shut down those things right away.

“It boggles my mind how when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human-animal interface, that we don’t just shut it down,” he said. “I don’t know what else has to happen to get us to appreciate that.”

• Read: China continues to exploit wild animals by promoting bear bile for coronavirus cure

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