Beijing, capital of China, decided to root out any consumption and trade of wildlife in the city by passing a new regulation, imposing even harsher punishments on violators.
Complying with an earlier notice issued by China’s top legislature in February, the new regulation is a prudent response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is believed to be caused by the virus linked to bats, China Global Television Network (CGTN) reported on Sunday.
A strict ban on the consumption and farming of wild animals is being rolled out across China in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, which is believed to have started at a wildlife market in Wuhan https://t.co/5fNnfgC7Re
— CNN (@CNN) March 6, 2020
It has also redefined the scope of protected wild animals and banned wildlife hunting in all regions in Beijing unless otherwise specified, said Wang Rongmei, chairwoman of the Legislative Commission of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress. The new regulation will be effective from the first of May this year.
Earlier, the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen also introduced new regulations banning eating wild animals. It was also the first-ever Chinese city to ban eating cats and dogs.
According to a city government’s post on Wednesday, “Dogs and cats as pets have established a much closer relationship with humans than all other animals and banning the consumption of dogs and cats and other pets is a common practice in developed countries and in Hong Kong and Taiwan, this ban also responds to the demand and spirit of human civilisation.”
Chinese city of Shenzhen says eating cats and dogs will be banned from May 1 as part of a clampdown on wildlife trade in the wake of coronavirus – REU
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) April 2, 2020
Under the new regulation, the consumption of all terrestrial wildlife and certain aquatic wild animals on the Beijing wildlife conservation list is prohibited, and their trading is forbidden in markets. Violators can face fines up to 20 times the value of wild animals or their products.
Chinese top lawmakers are currently mulling over proposals to carry out a blanket ban on the country’s wildlife industry, which could affect millions of breeders and a billion-dollar industry.
A survey conducted by the city’s gardening and greening bureau showed the capital has more than 500 terrestrial spine wildlife, including 81 wildlife under special state protection and 222 wild animals under special city protection.
The virus which originated from Wuhan late last year caused drastic effects worldwide. According to the Johns Hopkins University tally, 116 days ago the first case of COVID-19 reported in China and later on, the number of infected people surged to 83,909 with the mortality rate of 4,636. However, China has been able to curb to spread of the virus by recovering more than 77,000 cases.
Read more: China contained the coronavirus epidemic: reports ‘zero’ new cases
This does not end here as the COVID-19 cases have burgeoned to 2 million, with the death of more than 2 lac people worldwide. It is worth mentioning that the medical experts are putting there utmost efforts to prepare a vaccine of the deadly diseased.