Coronavirus: China Prohibits The Consumption Of Dogs And Cats

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

There is a minority in China that still consumes cat and dog meat, something unthinkable in the western world … Finally, last Wednesday, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, listed the animals that can be raised to consume their meat, their fur or for medical purposes and excluded for the first time dogs and cats that become recognized from now on as special companion animals:

"In pursuit of the development of human civilization and citizens' respect for the protection of animals, dogs have gone from being traditional livestock to companion animals."

The list ensures that foxes, among other animals, are fit to consume. The American organization Human Society International said in a statement that "it is the first time that the government in China says that cats and dogs are pets and are not intended for consumption." According to Animals Asia, an organization that defends animal rights, an estimated 4 million cats and 10 million dogs a year are slaughtered and eaten in China.

After the hypothesis that wild animal consumption favored the spread of the new coronavirus outbreak, trade and consumption of wild animals was banned in February, something that also happened during the previous SARS outbreak, the last coronavirus outbreak before the Covid-19 pandemic.

Once that was overcome, trade resumed, something that remains to be seen this time, once the virulent outbreak that now plagues the world is defeated.

We asked one of the greatest Latino animal activists, Marco Antonio Regil, about what he thought of this news. This is what he replied:

“I find it wonderful that China is stepping in the right direction, yet we know that these cruel and dangerous human health wet markets go beyond cats and dogs and are not only in China, but in the whole world and it is time to put an end to them on a global level”.