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Chinese avoid wild animals
Normally adventurous Chinese diners are eating fewer owls, civets and other wildlife due to fears of Sars and bird flu, according to a survey released yesterday by US and Chinese conservation groups.
- AP
- Published: 23:32 May 3, 2009
Beijing: Normally adventurous Chinese diners are eating fewer owls, civets and other wildlife due to fears of Sars and bird flu, according to a survey released yesterday by US and Chinese conservation groups.
The survey of 24,000 people in 16 cities found that nearly 72 per cent had not eaten wild animals in the past year, up from 51 per cent in a similar 1999 survey, said San Francisco-based WildAid and the official China Wildlife Conservation Association.
"Although not everybody believed that civets were to blame for Sars, the market still has been shrinking. Fewer and fewer people consume civets," Yin Feng, a researcher for the Chinese group, said at a news conference.
Wild animals have long been delicacies in China, where they are served at banquets to show off the host's wealth. Rare species also are used in traditional medicine, which prescribes deer horn, snake blood and other products for a wide range of ailments.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome, which first emerged in China's south in late 2002, was believed to have jumped to humans from civets, an animal sometimes served in restaurants.
China also has suffered dozens of outbreaks of bird flu, which experts say might originate in migrating ducks and other wild birds.
Some 81.9 per cent of people surveyed said they knew that Sars came from wild animals, according to WildAid and the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
Of those, 50.4 per cent stopped eating wild animals because of the link and 37.2 per cent had decided to eat less.
The survey was conducted in random interviews and inspections of restaurants, stores and markets.
In addition, fewer restaurants are serving wild animals, the groups said. Of 472 restaurants surveyed, 43.2 per cent served wild animals, 6.6 per cent less than in 1999.
But despite the attitude shift, the survey found that 22.8 per cent more grocery stores and 17.7 per cent more wholesale markets were selling wild animal products than in 1999.
Zhao Shengli, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese wildlife group, said the increase was due to a large and stable supply of legally farmed wild animals. Zhao said his group welcomed the increase in captive breeding because it would reduce poaching.
Some of the 80 species of wild animals were found in markets during the survey. They included pangolin, ostrich, cape barn owl, sika deer, Asian giant soft shell turtle, elongated tortoise, Siamese crocodile, king cobra and the Chinese giant salamander, but no civets.
About 32 per cent of those surveyed said they chose to eat wild animals for health and nutrition, while 31 per cent cited curiosity and 27 per cent said it was for the taste. About 9 per cent said they did it because it enhanced their social status.
The groups also called on the government to tighten the enforcement of bans on hunting. "The level at which we are consuming wildlife species is not sustainable and unless we can limit our consumption, much greater damage will be done," WildAid president Steve Trent said.
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