People look at a black bear at the Chengdu zoo amid the coronavirus outbreak on March 26, 2020 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province of China. (Photo by Wang Lei/China News Service via Getty Images)

The group of elephants was tracked though nearby jungle by wildlife officers in Chachoengsao, Thailand on April, 2020. More than 50 wild elephants crossed the highway. (Photo by Pratya Chutipat Sakul/Viral Press)

A dramatic rise in owning exotic pets in China is fuelling global demand for threatened species. The growing trade in alligators, snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and spiders is directly linked to species loss in some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Here: A fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is groomed in a pet store in central Beijing. Native to the Sahara in North Africa, the species became a popular pet after being depicted as a character in Disney’s 2016 animated movie Zootopia. Individuals can cost between $2,000–$3,000. (Photo by Sean Gallagher/The Guardian)

An elderly woman plays an accordion in Moscow, Russia on October 3, 2017. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)

Nicole Scherzinger at the “The X Factor” TV show, Series 14, Episode 15, Judges' Houses in Sun City, South Africa on October 21, 2017. (Photo by Dymond/Thames/Syco/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Local people check the growth of mussels at a river in Haian County on November 2, 2017 in Nantong, Jiangsu Province of China. Fish, shrimp, crab and mussel farming cleans the river and increases the villagers' income at Haian county in Jiangsu. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

The first four finalists are selected during the 66th Miss Universe pageant at Planet Hollywood hotel-casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on November 26, 2017. (Photo by Steve Marcus/Reuters)

Shoppers walk past crocodiles for sale at a market in Bata on February 3, 2015. Markets in Equatorial Guinea sell a variety of animals including pangolins, monkeys and crocodiles as food. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)