BEIJING: The agriculture department will soon release a new list of the country’s livestock and poultry, as a consequence of the recent ban on trade and consumption of wild animals across the country, a senior official said on Thursday.
On Feb 24, the National People’s Congress announced a decision to ban the hunting, trade and transportation of wild terrestrial animals for purposes of consumption, which comes after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
Common poultry and livestock like pigs, cattle and sheep are not included in the ban. Aquatic wild animals like fish are not prohibited, since fishing is an important agricultural mode of production. Animals that have been farm-raised for a long time so as to have become widely accepted by the public, and that form value chains helpful in local poverty alleviation, such as pigeons and rabbits, are also excluded.
However, the ban didn’t produce a detailed list, which would include other species of animals that do not belong to the groups traditionally thought of as livestock and poultry, but have been farm-raised for a long time.
As many people have doubts about what can be eaten and what cannot, Han Xu, deputy director of the Bureau of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said the ministry will soon release a list of livestock and poultry.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
