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Consumption of wild animals in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, has been banned just weeks after America’s top infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci called for an end to wet markets trading in exotic meat.
Lion, tiger, peacock and pangolin are now off the menu after the government in Wuhan announced this week that a new policy has come into effect banning breeding, hunting and consumption of wild animals. The new law will be in place for 5 years.
Read:Inside the horrific, inhumane animal markets behind pandemics like coronavirus
Other species including bat and snake meat have also been banned as part of a national push to prevent the population from eating wildlife.
It is thought the sale and consumption of exotic meats in wet markets have spawned diseases. The first cases of coronavirus are thought to have come from a wet market in Wuhan, in the Chinese province of Hubei.
Scientists think the virus originated in bats and transferred to humans through another animal. This has shone a spotlight onto the global market for exotic meats, the way they are procured, and hygiene around their sale and consumption.
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The market for wild animals is worth an estimated £60 million ($73 million) and provides work for as many as 14 million people.
Last month, when asked about wet markets in a television interview, Fauci said: “I think we should shut down those things right away. It boggles my mind how when we have so many diseases that emanate out of that unusual human-animal interface, that we don’t just shut it down.
“I don’t know what else has to happen to get us to appreciate that.”
