Wuhan Bans Hunting and Eating Wild Animals Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
- by Jake Bell
- in Research
- — May 23, 2020
Wuhan's municipal government has banned eating wild animals and all illegal hunting and trading of wildlife, according to local reports.
Wuhan, located in Hubei province, is a city of around 11 million people. However, government sanctioned hunting for research, population regulation, monitoring of epidemic diseases and other circumstances have been allowed.
The wet markets had been banned back in March, but evidence came out that they were continuing to operate.
From now on, there will be a ban on protected specimens, those that grow in wild areas and also those raised on farms for subsequent sale.
More news: Number of Covid-19 cases worldwide passes 'tragic milestone' of five millionOfficials said that rearing wild animals for the objective of eating them was also banned and announced it would participate in nationwide efforts to buy out these breeders.
Peter Li, Humane Society International's China policy specialist, said in a statement: "Wuhan's ban on wildlife consumption is extremely welcome as a clear recognition that the public health risk of zoonotic disease spread via the wildlife trade must be taken very seriously if we are to avoid another pandemic".
Many believe that the virus was transferred to people from bats before spreading across the world. The province of Hunan on Friday set out a compensation scheme to persuade breeders to rear other livestock or produce tea and herbal medicines.
The Chinese government is offering payments to farmers for at least 14 wild species, such as rat snakes, bamboo rats, civet cats, and Chinese bamboo partridges. Past outbreaks, including the 2004 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic, have also been attributed to the live animal markets.
More news: PS5 will be an "evolution" for gaming sound, says SonyJiangxi province has released similar plans to help farmers with financial aid. The province has more than 2,300 licensed breeders of exotic animals, according to state-run paper Jiangxi Daily, generating about $225 million (about R3 billion) in sales in 2018. Hubei is bordered by both Hunan and Jiangxi.
The Chinese language metropolis of Wuhan, the place the lethal coronavirus was first detected, has imposed a strict ban on wildlife commerce.
"This is the first time that the Chinese government actually made a decision to do it, which opens a precedent (for when) other production needs to be phased out".
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