During the recent
Spring
Festival which is the season for family dinners and banquets in
China, many rare animals had the good fortune to escape being
served up for dinner.
This was as much due to the growing awareness of the importanceof
animal quarantine as to animal protection.
Dedicated environmentalists and officials are now committed to
spreading the news that no quarantine measures are ever taken
before wild animals arrive at the dinner table.
Many Chinese believe that wild animals have medicinal or
pep-upproperties, but experts say they are far more likely to be
carriers of germs and parasites.
Experts with help from the media have been organizing public
dissections of wild snakes confiscated from animal smugglers by
police.
In
this way the onlookers can see for themselves how many living
parasites there are under the microscope.
Quarantine officials say that wild animals are usually served up
without any clear idea of where they were caught. Many of the
animals are even infected with unknown diseases, which is very
dangerous for diners.
However, urbanites are more inclined to be influenced by animal
protection than by animal health, as China reinforces the law on
wildlife protection.
In
south China's Guangdong Province, wild meat eaters can be fined as
much as 10,000 yuan or even punished for criminal liability.
Many Chinese are taking part in protests against the illegal
killing of and trading in animals. There are over 2,000
non-governmental environmental organizations across the country
taking up the call to save rare wild animals.
Earlier this year, 200 chefs from all parts of China, including
Hong Kong and Macao, pledged to keep rare animals out of their
cooking pots and also to encourage fellow chefs to do the same.
They have been honored as "green" chefs. An official from the
Chinese Wildlife Protection Association which is involved in the
project, said that the objective is to convince at least a million
of China's eight million chefs and cooks to sign the manifesto by
2006.
China is famous for its diverse mouth watering cuisine. But there
is also an outdated affectation to have "extravagant" wild animals
on table as a method of "showing-off," which has led to much
unmerciful killing.
A
survey carried out by the association in 21 large cities in China
found that nearly half those surveyed say that they had tasted wild
animals at least once.
The investigation also showed 53 varieties of wild species are
killed for culinary use, 14 of which are on the state's most
protected animals' list.
(
February 23, 2002)