CHINA—Shenzhen has become the first Chinese city to ban the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat.
It comes after the virus outbreak was linked to wildlife meat, prompting Chinese authorities to ban the trade and consumption of wild animals. Shenzhen went a step further, extending the ban to dogs and cats. The new law will come into force on 1 May. That’s quite a move—removing a food staple from many Chinese people.
Thirty million dogs a year are killed across Asia for meat, says Humane Society International (HSI).
Animal advocacy organisation HSI praised the move.
"This really could be a watershed moment in efforts to end this brutal trade that kills an estimated 10 million dogs and 4 million cats in China every year," said Dr Peter Li, China policy specialist for HSI.
However, at the same time as this ruling, China approved the use of bear bile to treat coronavirus patients. Bear bile - a digestive fluid drained from living captive bears - has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The active ingredient, ursodeoxycholic acid, is used to dissolve gallstones and treat liver disease. But there is no proof that it is effective against the coronavirus and the process is painful and distressing for the animals
Brian Daly, a spokesman for the Animals Asia Foundation, told AFP:
"We shouldn't be relying on wildlife products like bear bile as the solution to combat a deadly virus that appears to have originated from wildlife itself.”
Stopping the consumption of dogs and cats is a start. The next step would be to stop eating unclean foods of all kinds, in favor of God’s dietary health laws in the Bible.
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“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer” (Exodus 15:26).
