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February 25, 2020

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Top legislature bans wildlife consumption, illegal trade

China yesterday declared an immediate and “thorough” ban on the trade and consumption of wild animals, a practice believed responsible for the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, or China’s top legislature, yesterday adopted a decision on thoroughly banning the illegal trading of wildlife and banishing the consumption of wild animals to safeguard people’s lives and health.

The move also aims to safeguard biological and ecological security and effectively prevent major public health risks.

The coronavirus epidemic had highlighted “the prominent problem of excessive consumption of wild animals, and the huge hidden dangers to public health and safety,” China Central Television said.

Health officials have said that the virus likely emerged from a market in the central city of Wuhan that sold wild animals as food.

According to a price list that circulated on China’s Internet, one of the merchants at the market in Wuhan, the virus epicenter, sold a vast menagerie of animals, including civets, rats, snakes, giant salamanders and live wolf pups.

The coronavirus has killed 2,592 people in China and infected some 77,000 others.

It has also infected people in at least two dozen other countries and regions, killing nearly 30, and its rapid global spread has raised fears of a full-blown pandemic.

The consumption of terrestrial wild animals “of important ecological, scientific and social value” that are under state protection, as well as other terrestrial wild animals, including those that are bred or reared in captivity, shall be thoroughly prohibited, according to the decision.

The hunting, trading and transportation of terrestrial wild animals that naturally grow and breed in the wild for the purpose of consumption shall also be completely prohibited.

The decision stipulates that illegal consumption and trade of wildlife shall be severely punished.

Those who, in violation of the law on the protection of wildlife and other relevant laws and regulations, hunt, trade, transport or eat wild animals shall be given heavier penalties on the basis of existing laws and regulations, according to the decision.

Acts of consuming wild animals illegally and of hunting, trading or transporting wild animals for the purpose of consumption, which are newly covered by the decision, shall entail punishment applicable to similar acts covered by China’s existing laws, including the law on the protection of wildlife.

The decision also stipulates that the use of wild animals for non-edible purposes, including scientific research, medical use and display, shall be subject to strict examination, approval and quarantine inspection procedures in accordance with relevant regulations.

The decision demands governments at various levels strengthen supervision and inspection, and strictly investigate and punish violations of the decision and relevant laws and regulations.

Illegal business sites and illegal business operators shall be banned or shut down in accordance with laws.

The decision takes effect on the day of its promulgation.

Previous temporary bans have been put in place, including after the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) virus killed hundreds of people in China in 2002-03 and was also traced to wild animal consumption.

There already are laws in place against the wildlife trade. But conservationists say enforcement is episodic or just plain lax.

After the epidemic began exploding across the country, China late last month ordered a temporary ban “until the national epidemic situation is over.”

Health experts warn that transporting, butchering and consuming wild species poses a significant and growing public health risk by exposing humans to dangerous animal-borne pathogens.

The exact source of the novel coronavirus remains unconfirmed, with scientists variously speculating it originated in bats, pangolins, or some other mammal.




 

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