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China has come under significant political and social pressure due to its mishandling of animal markets which led to the COVID-19 outbreak. Not only has there been worldwide condemnation of the Chinese animal markets but hate crimes against Asians are on the rise in almost every single country – Twitter observed a 900% increase in hate speech against Chinese people. Much of the public and several political figures in Western countries seem to put the blame on the Chinese culture and the Communist Party of China, but is China really to blame for all this?

How the COVID-19 outbreak started

Most viruses, flu and recorded pandemics have been caused by crowded poultry systems which include pigs, chickens, horses, birds and bats. In fact, the first recorded flu became a disease after ducks began to be domesticated for food 4,000 years ago. It is estimated that large-scale poultry systems have created around 15 pandemics over the past 500 years – the biggest one being the Spanish flu in 1918 (killed 50 to 100 million people globally) which is suspected to have come from an unidentified bird.

It comes as no surprise that COVID-19, also known as SARS-CoV-2, supposedly originated from bats in Wuhan, China – another animal which is sold in large volumes in animal markets. Most experts seem to believe that the bats did not transfer the virus directly to humans, but rather the bats transmitted the disease to an intermediate animal (thought to be pangolins) which then transferred it to humans.

Why are bats and other wild animals sold?

Several international and Chinese laws have made poaching or sale of many exotic, wild or endangered animals illegal which includes snakes, pangolins, turtles and lizards, but despite that these animals continue to be sold. Most of you reading this would think the Chinese government is to blame for not forcing laws properly, but the issue is much more complex than that.

China’s food problem

Traditionally, Chinese people ate grains like rice and wheat, a range of vegetables and a wide array of fruits but as Chinese citizens have become richer and moved to cities, they have changed the nutrients they eat and the way they eat them. Today’s Chinese citizens opt more for Western diets which include dairy, carbohydrate-rich, fatty and high-protein foods such as burgers, pizzas, milkshakes and fried chicken. This swift shift in diets and increased demand for meat and dairy products has meant the agriculture industry and farmers have had to adjust and exhaust more land and resources.

Even before the Westernization of food occurred in China, the government had problems in feeding a population in excess of one billion. Why? Well, decades of pollution combined with overworked and artificially fertilized soil has made much of China’s agriculture land infertile. This has led to more than 40% of China’s fertile land becoming degraded to the point where it is on the verge of being unusable. The problem does not end there. Even though, China’s population is not expected to grow beyond 1.45 billion by 2050, the government predicts that 300 to 400 million people will move to cities leaving around 100 million people or less than 10% of the population to work on agriculture (compared to 35% currently). To make matters worse, growing and feeding animals takes significantly more electricity, water, land and causes more pollution, thus more fertile land is expected to become degraded in the next 30 years.

How does the food problem link to consumption of wild animals?

A growing food problem which threatens famines and droughts has put plenty of pressure on the Chinese government. The government has certain plans in place for the future to avoid a famine or hunger problems but for the past few decades, it has turned a blind eye towards poor poultry practices and trade of wild animals to avoid food scarcity dilemmas. Moreover, the wildlife animal industry contributes $74 billion to the Chinese economy per year and employs millions of Chinese individuals so it is rather beneficial for China from the Government’s perspective. In comparison, China’s legal food industry contributes $540 billion per year to the economy which gives you an idea of how essential the wildlife industry is to feeding Chinese natives and their economy.

How do animal markets in China work?

Wild animals are hunted for in all kinds of places, but most animals are captured from forests and put into cages. These cages of live animals are transported to animal markets where they are placed on top of each other like crates of packaged food and prepared for sale by the butchers. Medical experts have declared that they do not have an issue with the consumption of wild animals but rather the way they are treated and handled. Safety and health concerns are the problem in animal markets and poultry systems all across the world, as the close proximity in which the animals are kept, the faecal matter they leave behind and the open butchering of them without protection make it easy for diseases to be passed onto other animals and potentially humans.

What has the Chinese Government done in the past?

After the SARS outbreak, China received plenty of backlash for their wildlife eating culture as well as the lack of law enforcement. The Chinese Government put the hammer down on many of those working in the wild and exotic animal industry by imprisoning those who capture and sell such animals improperly and illegally, while running awareness campaigns to diminish wild animal eating habits. Chinese Government was effective in this manner as wild animal consumption fell over time, but they could not place a ban on the sale of wild animals due to the food crisis – instead they strengthened regulations with the aim of making animal markets more secure, safe and clean.

What has the Government done since COVID-19 outbreak?

Despite stronger regulations after the SARS outbreak, the Government could not regulate animal markets especially in smaller cities which eventually led to unlawful practices in many animal markets. Under severe pressure from other nations, the Chinese government has now placed a blanket ban on hunting, capturing and sale of wild/exotic animals. As a result, the Chinese economy may take a hit and China would have to increase agriculture and other poultry production in order to meet the food demands. Although, some animal groups and health organizations around the world have praised the decision,  a number of experts fear that the ban will increase illegal animal trade on the black market and discourage the Chinese public from visiting animal markets – millions of Chinese workers’ livelihood depends on animal markets. In addition, many health organizations discouraged the ban expressing that health standards need to be improved across all livestock production systems.

The Chinese Government will certainly be observing this criticism and looking at ways to improve regulation and implementation of their new laws to make animal markets more hygienic.

What does this mean for other countries in the future?

Following China’s blanket ban on exotic and wild animals, Vietnam followed suit by doing the same. It is expected that other nations all over the world will put similar laws in place, but many medical and health professionals argue this is the incorrect move. As stated before, health organizations have an issue with the treatment, handling and safety of animal markets and butchering, not the sale of animals. Novel viruses exist in all animals and if the animals are mishandled in poultry systems, they will spread diseases to humans regardless of which animal is in the spotlight. Health experts and organizations are pushing for stronger regulations on poultry systems to make them safer, cleaner and less crowded so that future pandemics can be avoided or rendered unlikely at the very least.

It is well-acknowledged that the COVID-19 outbreak will change the global society in many ways, but perhaps the poultry and livestock industry will be impacted most heavily with newer regulations and safety standards.