The actor has regularly spoken out on pressing environmental issues.

Movie star and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio has called on his followers to support the “Preventing Future Pandemics Act,” 

Urging his 46-million-plus Instagram followers, the Academy Award-winning actor wrote: “If you care about preventing the next pandemic, please ask your Senator to cosponsor Senate Bill S. 4749, the “Preventing Future Pandemics Act,” introduced by @corybooker and @johncornyn, so that we can reduce the risk of a pandemic like COVID happening again.”

How will the bill help?

The bipartisan bill, if implemented, will help establish an official foreign policy for the United States. The legislation will then enable the country to collaborate with concerned partners to ban the US from  importing and exporting live wildlife for human consumption (food or medicine) and also shut down such markets in the country.

According to global non-profit organization, Animal Defenders International, the bill would also mobilise “global action to shut down live wildlife markets and commercial wildlife trade; assist developing nations’ transition to alternative livelihoods and protein sources; and deploy 50 USFWS law enforcement attachés to provide training and capacity-building, and combat trafficking.”

Show your support

If you live in the US and want to be a voice for the animals, urge your senators to cosponsor this timely and important bill by finding their contact details here.  

You can also use this pre-written template by the Humane Society of the United States if you’re unsure about what to say..

• Read: David Attenborough answers nature-themed questions from Billie Eilish, David Beckham and more in new Netflix clip

Share this story to help gain more support for the ‘Preventing Future Pandemics Act’.

Mohsina Dodhiya

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