Daily Times

The city at the center of the coronavirus, Wuhan has banned the eating of wild animals.

Both moves come amid mounting pressure for China to crack down on the illegal wildlife trade blamed by many for the pandemic that has killed more than 320,000 people.

Lion, tiger, peacocks, and pangolin are now officially banned after a new policy was unveiled this week that prohibits the hunting, breeding consumption of wild animals. The policy has been implemented for five years.

The crackdown, officials said, involves buying out wild animal breeders, imposing strict controls on animal breeding and a ban on all hunting of wild animals. The city is now calling itself “a wildlife sanctuary.”

Wildlife farmers in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces are set to be compensated for switching to growing fruits, vegetables, tea plants or herbs.

Officials do make an exception, however, for scientific research, population regulation, monitoring of epidemic diseases and other special circumstances.