Beavers, snakes and frogs ... the dangerous Chinese passion for eating exotic meat

The Swiss newspaper of Lotan said that the Chinese people's passion for eating specially protected wild animal meat may have been, according to experts, what led to the transmission of new viruses to humans.

The summer explained that the Huanan market in Wuhan - which was the starting point and the epicenter of the epidemic currently raging in China - teeming with frogs, antelopes, beavers, porcupines, civet cats, wolves and snakes, and they are displayed in cages and sold live, and are sold at prices ranging between 15 and 4 thousand yuan (1.9 and 550 dollars) .

The newspaper said that the alien species called "wild flavors" (Yi Wei) is an appetite in the central region of China, where no one is reluctant to consume endangered species, such as pangolin and tiger, and some even think that these animals have anti-cancer properties or Treatment of impotence.

Fresh food
Last year, authorities in Hubei - where Wuhan is located - documented 250 cases of wildlife smuggling, and Hong Kong customs regularly reported seizures of exotic meat from Africa or Southeast Asia passing through the coastal city to mainland China, according to the newspaper.

The site pointed out that the Chinese attach great importance to the meat being fresh, as they want to kill the animal that they want to buy in front of their eyes. "The markets in this part of the world are home to many living animals, which increases the risk of contact between humans and animals, and thus the potential for transmission of the virus between the two types," says Patrick Boone - Professor of Biology at the University of Hong Kong.

Many experts believe that the new corona virus that appeared in Wuhan has been transmitted to humans from an animal sold in the Huanan market, and it may be a snake in particular, according to Chinese researchers.

This animal may be just a host to the virus that arises between the bats that carry many types of corona viruses, according to Bonn, who mentioned that the SARS virus - which killed about eight hundred people in 2003 - was transmitted to humans from the civet cat sold in a market. Guangdong.

Temporary block
The website said that a group of 19 scientists Friday posted an open letter on the "Weibo" (Chinese Twitter) in which they called on the authorities to ban the sale and consumption of non-domesticated species, as a practice that posed "a major threat to public health." Subsequently, the government announced a temporary suspension of the wildlife trade on Sunday, while the epidemic continues to spread.

The site concluded by recalling that, after the SARS epidemic, China closed the markets of live animals among major cities, and the consumption of protected species has not been legal since 2014, but some raise them on farms and then sell them.