The Chinese authorities have excluded cats and dogs from an official list of edible animals, in preparation for enacting legislation to reduce wild animal husbandry for the purpose of preventing the transmission of viruses to humans, as was most likely the case with the new Corona.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has published a text that will be in circulation until May 8, specifying a list of animals that can be raised for meat and fur or for medical purposes, and does not include dogs and cats for the first time.
"It is the first time that the Chinese government has observed that cats and dogs are domestic animals and are not intended for eating," the American Society for Human Welfare said in a statement.
The association’s figures indicate that ten million dogs are killed annually in China because of their flesh. Thousands of dogs are eliminated annually during the Dog Meat Festival in the southern city of Yulin, in conditions that animal defenders describe as brutal, as dogs are beaten to death to reach their sheep. Lively.
This decision comes after the banning of trafficking and consumption of wild animals in February, and the government previously banned the sale of civet cats in 2003 after it was suspected of transmitting the SARS virus to humans. The sale of snakes was also banned for a short time in Guangzhou, but the popular culture is committed to the trade of these animals. In particular, it is also used in traditional Chinese medicine.
A study conducted by Beijing University in 2012 revealed that a third of people in big cities used wild animals in their lives for food, medicine or clothing, but recent polls confirm that more than half of the Chinese are convinced of the need to stop it.