My Take | It’s not too late to outlaw the wildlife industry
- Half-hearted measures will not work, so Beijing must get serious in its decision to ban trading and consumption of wildlife to avoid yet another health crisis
Conservation and animal welfare activists in China have been right all along. But because their interest and advocacy have been narrowly focused, it has always been hard for them to gain a hearing from the movers and shakers of China. They have also been working against corporate interests and local government priorities.
But if they had been listened to and that wildlife trading and consumption had been totally banned, the world would have been a very different place today, and the Covid-19 pandemic might have been avoided.
Is it too late? Not at all. This crisis is the perfect opportunity. Activists may already be pushing against an open door. But they need to reframe the debate to show policymakers that the nation’s future depends on totally reforming wildlife protection and conservation, from top to bottom, without loopholes, without exceptions, and to be enforced strictly. This is not just for animal welfare, but to secure China’s global power and prestige by making sure another health crisis like Covid-19 and the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) epidemic will never happen again – well, not from China anyway.
Most pathogens that have emerged in recent decades to threaten humanity are zoonoses, diseases that have jumped species to humans. HIV/Aids, Ebola, Marburg, Sars, Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), avian and swine flus, and Covid-19 are well-known examples.
Wildlife trade and consumption, whether licensed or illegal, are the industry whose nodes or hubs are the giant wet markets that serve as incubators and spreaders of novel zoonoses. China’s excellent transport infrastructures – for air, land and sea – mean contagion can spread easily across the country.
Beijing knows this. That’s why it imposed a permanent ban on wildlife trade and consumption on February 24. But the ban seriously falls short. It only covers land animals and punishes only consumers. The status of companies, breeders and traders with licences is ill-defined. There is also a glaring loophole: medicinal use is exempt.
Why the foot-dragging? Because it’s an industry worth US$73 billion, according to a 2017 Chinese Academy of Engineering report, and employs more than 14 million people. Local officials in poor provinces have promoted it as part of their poverty-relief efforts. However, the economic and reputational damage of Covid-19 to China will be many multiples of that.
