Coronavirus Piles Pressure On China’s Exotic Animal Trade
Wang Zhilin wont to eke out a living from rice farming within the central province of Jiangxi. Then she switched to a more lucrative trade — feedingina China’s voracious appetite for exotic animals, the consumption of which many believe is at the basis of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Raising wild animals is more profitable than growing crops,” said Ms Wang. She farms civet cats, a raccoon-like animal, and made a profit of Rmb50,000 ($7,140) last year by selling 33 full-grown animals — quite twice what she would have made from growing rice.
Parts of China have a tradition of consuming exotic wild animals as food or medicine, despite evidence that some species such as civet cats played a role in the Sars epidemic 17 years ago. Now the animal trade’s suspected role within the deadly coronavirus outbreak has put the practice within the sights of China’s senior leadership. The executive body of the country’s parliament, is predicted to review measures to curb the business on Monday.
Live wild animal markets, like the large wet markets in China . . . are ideal places for zoonotic virus emergence to occur
“We must resolutely close and clamp down on illegal wild animal market and trade,” President Xi Jinping said this month. “The bad habit of eating wildlife without limits must be abandoned.”
The outbreak is assumed to possess started during a wet market within the city of Wuhan where animals are slaughtered and traded. Scientists believe the virus that has killed quite 2,200 people came from an animal host. Beijing has reacted by issuing a short lived ban on the trade all live animals.
However, experts question what proportion any permanent regulatory tightening are going to be ready to achieve. Despite the shortage of scientific evidence, there's a widespread belief in China that consuming wild animals or animal parts, including tiger bones and rhino horns, can help strengthen the body and cure diseases. Adherents of traditional Chinese medicine believe eating civet cats, as an example , can help strengthen the body and improve a man’s sexual function.
Growing disposable incomes over the past few decades have also resulted in increased demand for wild animals, which are seen as expensive delicacies.
In response to international concerns over species also as health concerns, Beijing has restricted their trade and in some cases banned hunting them. But it's also encouraged the wildlife farm industry, which has become a growth engine within the countryside.
Wildlife farms generated Rmb56bn in economic output in 2017, consistent with the China Forestry Yearbook, a fivefold jump from Rmb9.6bn 10 years earlier.
Yet critics say many farms have exploited a scarcity of official scrutiny to flout laws and increased their stock of restricted animals by capturing them within the wild. “There is not any way for wildlife farming to grow so fast in an organic manner,” said a Beijing-based scholar and policy adviser who declined to be named.
On paper, China allows the farming and trading of 54 wild animals including kangaroos and bamboo rats. In reality, local governments have expanded the list to several other species.
Zhou Jinfeng, secretary-general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, a non-profit organisation, said several hundred wild species — including many rare ones — were up purchasable . “There may be a general lack of regulation on wildlife farming and trade,” said Mr Zhou.
The policy inertia could stem from potential conflicts of interest. Public records show dozens of retired forestry officials liable for issuing wild animal farming licences also chair local wildlife conservation associations funded partially by farms.
“How does one expect the forestry authority to strictly enforce animal protection rules when it's financed by the business it regulates?” said Mr Zhou.
While it remains unclear which animal is responsible for the coronavirus outbreak, scientists believe the shortage of oversight of China’s wildlife industry has helped trigger the epidemic.
“Live wild animal markets, like the large wet markets in China . . . are ideal places for zoonotic virus emergence to occur,” said Andrew Cunningham, deputy director of science at the Zoological Society of London, pertaining to conditions that originate in non-human animals.
However, Chen Changfu, a professor at Central China Agricultural University, said wildlife farming would do no harm goodbye as there have been greater controls over farming conditions.
“A carp fish during a well-kept pond is safer than its peer during a polluted river,” said Mr Chen. “The same is true with wild animals.”
Other academics prefer a ban on wildlife farming altogether, arguing that China lacks the capacity to conduct disease inspection. “The inspection system must cover everything from hunting to farming to transportation to slaughtering,” said one Beijing-based policy adviser. “It is not economically viable.”
Nonetheless, wildlife farmers are upbeat about their future. Yuan Jun, another civet cat farmer in Jiangxi, is confident his business will keep it up despite the present ban on transportation and wildlife sales that has cost him Rmb1m since the end of January.
“Things will come to normal when transportation resumes,” said Mr Yuan.
Wang Zhilin wont to eke out a living from rice farming within the central province of Jiangxi. Then she switched to a more lucrative trade — feedingina China’s voracious appetite for exotic animals, the consumption of which many believe is at the basis of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Raising wild animals is more profitable than growing crops,” said Ms Wang. She farms civet cats, a raccoon-like animal, and made a profit of Rmb50,000 ($7,140) last year by selling 33 full-grown animals — quite twice what she would have made from growing rice.Parts of China have a tradition of consuming exotic wild animals as food or medicine, despite evidence that some species such as civet cats played a role in the Sars epidemic 17 years ago. Now the animal trade’s suspected role within the deadly coronavirus outbreak has put the practice within the sights of China’s senior leadership. The executive body of the country’s parliament, is predicted to review measures to curb the business on Monday.
Live wild animal markets, like the large wet markets in China . . . are ideal places for zoonotic virus emergence to occur
“We must resolutely close and clamp down on illegal wild animal market and trade,” President Xi Jinping said this month. “The bad habit of eating wildlife without limits must be abandoned.”
The outbreak is assumed to possess started during a wet market within the city of Wuhan where animals are slaughtered and traded. Scientists believe the virus that has killed quite 2,200 people came from an animal host. Beijing has reacted by issuing a short lived ban on the trade all live animals.
However, experts question what proportion any permanent regulatory tightening are going to be ready to achieve. Despite the shortage of scientific evidence, there's a widespread belief in China that consuming wild animals or animal parts, including tiger bones and rhino horns, can help strengthen the body and cure diseases. Adherents of traditional Chinese medicine believe eating civet cats, as an example , can help strengthen the body and improve a man’s sexual function.
Growing disposable incomes over the past few decades have also resulted in increased demand for wild animals, which are seen as expensive delicacies.
In response to international concerns over species also as health concerns, Beijing has restricted their trade and in some cases banned hunting them. But it's also encouraged the wildlife farm industry, which has become a growth engine within the countryside.
Wildlife farms generated Rmb56bn in economic output in 2017, consistent with the China Forestry Yearbook, a fivefold jump from Rmb9.6bn 10 years earlier.
Yet critics say many farms have exploited a scarcity of official scrutiny to flout laws and increased their stock of restricted animals by capturing them within the wild. “There is not any way for wildlife farming to grow so fast in an organic manner,” said a Beijing-based scholar and policy adviser who declined to be named.
On paper, China allows the farming and trading of 54 wild animals including kangaroos and bamboo rats. In reality, local governments have expanded the list to several other species.
Zhou Jinfeng, secretary-general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, a non-profit organisation, said several hundred wild species — including many rare ones — were up purchasable . “There may be a general lack of regulation on wildlife farming and trade,” said Mr Zhou.
The policy inertia could stem from potential conflicts of interest. Public records show dozens of retired forestry officials liable for issuing wild animal farming licences also chair local wildlife conservation associations funded partially by farms.
“How does one expect the forestry authority to strictly enforce animal protection rules when it's financed by the business it regulates?” said Mr Zhou.
While it remains unclear which animal is responsible for the coronavirus outbreak, scientists believe the shortage of oversight of China’s wildlife industry has helped trigger the epidemic.
“Live wild animal markets, like the large wet markets in China . . . are ideal places for zoonotic virus emergence to occur,” said Andrew Cunningham, deputy director of science at the Zoological Society of London, pertaining to conditions that originate in non-human animals.
However, Chen Changfu, a professor at Central China Agricultural University, said wildlife farming would do no harm goodbye as there have been greater controls over farming conditions.
“A carp fish during a well-kept pond is safer than its peer during a polluted river,” said Mr Chen. “The same is true with wild animals.”
Other academics prefer a ban on wildlife farming altogether, arguing that China lacks the capacity to conduct disease inspection. “The inspection system must cover everything from hunting to farming to transportation to slaughtering,” said one Beijing-based policy adviser. “It is not economically viable.”
Nonetheless, wildlife farmers are upbeat about their future. Yuan Jun, another civet cat farmer in Jiangxi, is confident his business will keep it up despite the present ban on transportation and wildlife sales that has cost him Rmb1m since the end of January.
“Things will come to normal when transportation resumes,” said Mr Yuan.
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