A zoonosis is an animal disease capable of spreading from animals to humans, such as avian flu, SARS, influenza, tuberculosis, rabies, salmonella and vCJD. They can be either viral, bacterial or parasitic infections and are a fact of life. With the way our species treats animals and the environment they will become much larger and more serious problems unless we learn from our mistakes.

Many of these zoonotic diseases are density dependent and similar outbreaks can occur whenever animals are gathered in large numbers. Keeping and slaughtering, often inhumanely, large numbers of animals in cramped, unsanitary conditions, with no thought to the well-being of the animal is not only cruel to animals, but also puts human health and the environment at risk.

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