Virus spawns enhanced wildlife protection
Print Edition
THE spread of the novel coronavirus, traced to a wildlife market in Wuhan, has thrust wildlife protection into the Chinese spotlight.
Many Chinese have expressed support for sustained action against illegal wildlife trade and consumption. The public-health emergency has inspired action to boost public education and revamp the current wildlife-protection system.
China has fast-tracked its wildlife-related legislation. Later this year, lawmakers intend to amend a law designed to protect wildlife, as well as laws on animal-epidemic prevention, a government official said.
Wildlife-protection laws, in force since 1989 and revised in 2016, cover rare and endangered land and aquatic animals, as well as animals deemed to be of important ecological, scientific and social value.
In response to the coronavirus outbreak, the Chinese government has imposed a temporary ban on the trade of all wild animals across the country, garnering praise from international wildlife-protection organizations.
No wildlife can be transported or sold in any markets or online in China until the public-health emergency is over, per the ban issued on January 26. A hotline, 12315, is open for people to report ban violations.
Several ministries and bureaus have teamed up to launch a campaign that cracks down on illegal activities involving wildlife. Footage of police arresting people violating the ban has frequently appeared on television, heightening awareness of tougher enforcement.
Voices of conservationists and animal- welfare advocates are prominent in leading state media, such as the People’s Daily, Workers Daily, Guangming Daily and China Central Television.
Wildlife-related public-health considerations should be written into law, said Zhou Ke, a law professor with Renmin University of China.
“‘Protection’ should go before ‘development’ and ‘utilization’ of wildlife resources,” said Ma Yong, deputy secretary general of the China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation.
A group of 19 academics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and leading universities issued a joint statement calling for sustained action to end the illegal trade and consumption of wild animals.
China protects animals based on a classification system — rare and endangered wildlife receive either first- or second-class special state protection. State Council wildlife-protection departments determine which animals to protect every five years.
The State Council’s forestry and grassland department oversees land-animal protection, and the fishery department covers aquatic wildlife.
Ninety-eight different land animals receive first-class protection, while 308 get second class. Also, 1,591 different land animals with important ecological, scientific and social values and 120 types of insects are protected.
In 2003, to reduce poaching and tackle “outstanding problems in the protection, domestication, breeding and utilization” of animals, the forestry department listed 54 land animals that can be raised on farms, such as minks, civets and sika deer, due to mature breeding-and-domestication practices.
The joint statement by 19 academics identified loopholes in the management of domestication and breeding farms, involving illegal purchases, sales and consumption of animals.
Ran Jingcheng, head of Guizhou Province’s wildlife and forest plant-management station, said farm-raised animals, such as sika deer and ostriches, should not qualify for protection but grouped as livestock and poultry — as long as the breeding technology is mature and quarantine standards are well met — to satisfy market demand.
Some experts warned against quick decisions to permanently ban wildlife trade, arguing such bans would push trade underground, making it even more difficult to police.
As the coronavirus has impacted almost every Chinese, many have broken their silence and called for sustained action against wildlife trade and consumption.
In a recent Weibo poll, nearly 97 percent of respondents strongly oppose eating wild animals, almost 78 percent oppose using wildlife products, such as fur and bone, and 77 percent oppose domesticating wild animals on farms.
“I hope everyone learns a lesson. The price is too high. How much manpower and resources have been used? The government should do something and strike hard,” said one respondent.
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