https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/coronavirus/coronavirus-myer-announces-it-will...Wuhan has finally banned the sale of bats and other wild animal meat amid fears coronavirus originated in one of the city’s bizarre food markets.
The Chinese city’s municipal government announced a comprehensive ban on eating all wild animals and the hunting and trading of wildlife.
It released a list of strict new rules which will come into immediate effect and will last for at least the next five years.
According to the official statement, there will be a ban on the sale and eating of terrestrial wild animals that are both in the wild or bred for the dinner table for dishes like bat soup.
Wuhan also announced a complete ban on the hunting of wild animals stating the whole city is now “a wildlife sanctuary.”
There will also be prohibitions on breeding aquatic wild animals - like frogs- for eating and bans on wildlife trading in markets and online.
“This notice shall come into force on the date of promulgation and shall be valid for five years,” the the statement read.
News of the ban was welcomed by Boris Johnson’s fiancee Carrie Symonds who tweeted: ‘Let’s hope this remains the case.’
Wuhan is now the fourth Chinese city to outlaw the dangerous practice of selling wild animals for food.
The World Health Organisation has previously pointed the finger at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in the city for the killer outbreak.
imed many of the first virus victims were stall owners, It claemployees or regular shoppers.
The WHO said tests on samples indicated it was the source of the outbreak or had “played a role in the initial amplification”.The Huanan market had a wild animal section where live and slaughtered species were sold for food including snakes, frogs, beavers, porcupines and even baby crocodiles.
Close interactions with wild animals have caused numerous disease outbreaks in humans including Ebola, SARS and HIV.Viruses can spread more easily if animals in markets are sick or kept in dirty, cramped conditions, such as in stacked cages.
When animals are under duress, viral pathogens can intermingle, swap bits of their genetic code and possibly mutate in ways that make them more transmissible between species.
In the case of respiratory diseases like Covid-19 the virus can jump to food handlers or shoppers through exposure to an animal’s bodily fluids.
Early studies showed the new strain of coronavirus did originate in bats, but scientists have been trying to find which animal then transferred it onto humans.
Different studies have so far linked pangolins, stray dogs and snakes to the cause of the deadly outbreak which has so far claimed more than 300,000 lives
this is good news... but who will police it???
its a big ask and what will they replace the bat soup with??????
Forum
Pages: 1
Wuhan make it illegal. to eat wildlife. (Read 1187 times)
