British comedian Ricky Gervais has called for an end to wildlife trade and consumption after reportedly being left "horrified" by pictures of bats, snakes, and dogs that had been dumped on a street to be sold in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The After Life star's call for action comes just days after China declared dogs as companions and not livestock for the very first time.

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Speaking to The Mirror, the creator and star of The Office said: "For the sake of people and animals, wildlife trade and consumption has to end, now."

Gervais added: "We can’t carry on exploiting animals, eating wildlife and trashing the planet. The wildlife trade and markets have to close, otherwise, it will be a case of when, and not if, we have another global pandemic."

Finally, in a message believed to be aimed at politicians, he added: "How bad does this have to get before you close down Indonesia’s extreme animal markets that pose the exact same risk as the wildlife wet markets in Wuhan, China?"

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Early today, Gervais retweeted the following tweet by the Humane Society International:

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Gervais, 58, has long been an advocate for animal rights, frequently sharing his beliefs on social media and speaking out about cruelty against animals in interviews.

Last year, Gervais was praised for "shutting down animal testing in less than a minute" when he appeared on Radio 5 Live to argue that "it doesn't work".

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Speaking to the radio station, Gervais called for an end to animal testing, saying: "It doesn't work - 93 percent of all experiments that work on animals then fail and are dangerous to humans, because the models don't work. Computer models work better than animal testing.

"It's propaganda because people who breed beagles make £1,000 or £2,000 per dog, universities get kickbacks from farmer companies to do research... it doesn't work and it's cruel. You've got to end animal testing.

"Some people think, 'Oh yeah, but what about cancer and AIDS?' I understand that but there's no ambiguity about shampoo and cosmetics. That's mental - putting stuff in rabbits' eyes and torturing them to death. Don't get shampoo in your eyes, it stings, done."

Ricky Gervais calls for an end to wildlife trade and consumption