The Chinese Government's Commitment To Ban The Consumption Of Exotic Animals

JAKARTA - Shenzhen became the first city in China to ban the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat. This happened after it was strongly suspected that the new corona virus which became a pandemic originated from wild animals.

Following up on the findings, Shenzhen went a step further by issuing a bill to prohibit the consumption of exotic animals. The rules will take effect on May 1.

This would certainly contradict the habits of some Chinese citizens who like to consume meat from exotic animals, including dogs and cats. On the other hand, the majority of residents also do not support the sale and consumption of this meat in the market.

"Dogs and cats as pets have a closer relationship with humans than all other animals. Banning the consumption of dogs, cats and other pets is commonplace in developed countries and in Hong Kong and Taiwan," the city government said. Shenzhen quoted by the BBC.

The habit of eating dogs and cats in China is indeed unusual. But we cannot close our eyes that in fact, the number of killings of two animals that are considered human friends is not small.

According to the records of the animal advocacy organization Human Society International (HSI), about 30 million dogs per year are killed across Asia for their meat. Meanwhile in China the number was recorded at almost more than 30 percent. Therefore HSI is very supportive of this Shenzhen government policy.

"This is truly an important moment to end the brutal trade that kills about 10 million dogs and 4 million cats in China every year," said DR Peter li, HSI's China policy analyst.

Earlier, in February, Chinese authorities had banned the trade and consumption of wild animals. The move came after an animal market in Wuhan was strongly suspected of being the starting point for the spread of the new coronavirus. This news prompted the Chinese government to crack down on trade and markets that sell products from wildlife.

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- World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) April 5, 2020

Bear Bile

Regardless of the Chinese government's assertiveness in following up on this case, there are still unfortunate things. Because, at the same time as the decision to ban the trade and consumption of dogs and cats, China still approved of the use of bear bile to treat coronavirus patients.

Not without reason, bear bile has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine. Indeed, there has been no further research on the properties of bear bile.

It's just that the active compound from ursodeoxycholic acid in bear bile is believed to be believed to dissolve gallstones and treat liver disease. But until now there has been no evidence that bear bile is effective against COVID-19. Not to mention about the painful and troublesome process of taking it for animals.

One of those who disagree about the use of bear bile is the Animals Asia Foundation. His spokesman Brian Daly said, "We should not rely on wildlife products such as bear bile as a solution to fighting a deadly virus that appears to have originated in wildlife," he said.

There are now more than one million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, resulting in as many as 47,000 deaths according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. Meanwhile, in China alone, there were 81,589 confirmed cases with 3,318 deaths.

Currently, scientists are still not sure where the true source of the virus, and how it spread to humans.