The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen wants local restaurants to take dogs and cats off their menus as the country clamps down on the wildlife trade scientists suspect led to the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
Reuters reports a new city regulation states only nine meats that are permitted for consumption, including pork, chicken, beef and rabbit, as well as fish and seafood.
“Banning the consumption of wild animals is a common practice in developed countries and is a universal requirement of modern civilization,” the notice said.
Apart from dogs, the new Shenzhen act bars snake, frog and turtle meat from the dinner table.
A ban on eating dog and cat meat in Shenzhen would be “extremely welcome,” said Peter Li, China policy expert for Humane Society International, an animal welfare group.
“Although the trade in Shenzhen is fairly small compared with the rest of [Guangdong] province, Shenzhen is still a huge city and is larger than Wuhan, so this would be very significant and could even have a domino effect with other cities following.” – READ MORE
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