Zoonotic outbreaks become more frequent and intense (e.g., Espinosa et al., 2020) and are considered as one of the most important threats to public health (Bueno-Marí et al., 2015). Therefore, it is important to educate people on how to prevent future zoonoses. The aim of this research is to investigate an intervention aimed at changing people’s attitudes and behaviors toward more protective actions. In two studies (NStudy 1 = 402; NStudy 2 = 706), participants were given an intervention based on previous literature in which knowledge about zoonoses, protective actions they could take, and a fear appeal were provided. In the control condition, no intervention was given. Afterwards, we measured participants’ risk knowledge, attitudes and behavioral intentions toward more protective actions, and fear. Studies 1 and 2 showed that the risk communication intervention, as compared with no intervention, heightened participants’ risk knowledge regarding zoonoses and affected their attitudes and intentions to change their behaviors to reduce zoonotic risks. Study 2 also showed that the intervention affected participants’ behavioral decision. Moreover, our designed intervention proved more effective than the informative WHO text on zoonoses (Study 2). For theory, this is the first experimental demonstration that a general zoonotic risk communication message increased risk knowledge of zoonoses and changed attitudes and behavioral intentions to take more protective actions to reduce zoonotic risks. For policy, this research shows that a basic information message for the broad public has the potential to reduce zoonotic risks.