On February 24th, the National People’s Congress deliberated and passed the Decision on Completely Banning the Illegal Wildlife Trade, Eliminating the Bad Habit of Overeating Wild Animals, and Effectively Safeguarding the People’s Life, Health and Safety. Article 2 explicitly prohibits eating "terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific and social values" protected by the state and other terrestrial wild animals, including artificially bred and artificially raised terrestrial wild animals; It is completely forbidden to hunt, trade and transport terrestrial wild animals that naturally grow and breed in the wild environment for the purpose of eating.
What animals are edible? The People’s Procuratorate of Hongkou District, Shanghai has sorted out several kinds of animal ingredients that everyone is most concerned about, and the relevant questions and answers are as follows. The prosecutor told The Paper that it can be summed up in one sentence: all terrestrial wild animals are inedible, and neither are artificially raised, except livestock and poultry.
1. Q: Can I eat the East China Sea seafood like hairtail and yellow croaker that coastal residents like to eat?
A:Yes.
Fishing natural fishery resources such as fish is an important agricultural production mode and an international common practice, which has been regulated by the Fisheries Law. According to the decision, aquatic wild animals such as fish are not included in the fasting scope. East China Sea seafood, such as hairtail and yellow croaker, is a wild animal, but it does not belong to terrestrial wild animals, so it is safe to eat.
2. Q: Can domestic wild animals such as chipmunks, hamsters and muskrats be eaten?
A:I can’t. They belong to wild animals that are explicitly prohibited from eating by the Wildlife Protection Law and cannot be eaten.
3. Q: Can wild boar and sika deer be eaten?
A:I can’t. They belong to wild animals that are explicitly prohibited from eating by the Wildlife Protection Law and cannot be eaten.
4. Q: Can domestic animals such as pigs, cows and sheep be eaten?
answer: yes. Common livestock and poultry, such as pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks and geese, are mainly edible animals, which are managed according to the animal husbandry law, animal epidemic prevention law and other laws and regulations and can be eaten.
5. Q: Can rabbits, pigeons and other farmed animals be eaten?
A:Yes. Rabbits, pigeons and other artificial breeding have been used for a long time, and the technology is mature, which has been widely accepted by the people. The output value and employees formed have a certain scale, and some of them play an important role in poverty alleviation. According to the provisions of the Decision, these animals listed in the Catalogue of Genetic Resources of Livestock and Poultry stipulated in the Animal Husbandry Law also belong to livestock and poultry, and their breeding and utilization, including eating, shall be managed in accordance with the provisions of the Animal Husbandry Law and strictly quarantined.
6. Q: Which wild animals can no longer be eaten?
A:The decision pointed out that if the wildlife protection law and other relevant laws explicitly prohibit the consumption of wild animals, they must be strictly prohibited. It is completely forbidden to eat "terrestrial wild animals with important ecological, scientific and social values" protected by the state and other terrestrial wild animals, including artificially bred and artificially raised terrestrial wild animals.
In fact, as long as you remember one sentence, all terrestrial wild animals are not edible, nor are they artificially raised, except livestock and poultry.
7. Q: Can animals be eaten if they are not on the wildlife protection list?
A:Even if the animals are not in the wildlife protection list, people must go through the necessary quarantine procedures if they want to eat them, and they can only enter the market for sale, purchase and consumption if they meet the prescribed standards.
8. Q: How can underground wildlife trading be banned? Will you be punished if you catch wild animals yourself?
A:The wildlife trade may go underground, and now it is a whole-process attack, and it is severely punished, and the illegal cost is extremely high, which will greatly curb the spread and development of the underground market. Even if you catch it yourself, you will be punished if you are found and can’t explain the source.
9. Q: What penalties will be imposed for illegal trafficking, feeding, transporting and eating wild animals?
A:The decision stipulates that illegal eating and trading of wild animals will be severely punished, and those who hunt, trade, transport and eat wild animals in violation of the wildlife protection law and other relevant laws and regulations will be given heavier punishment on the basis of the existing laws and regulations. Illegal business premises and illegal operators shall be banned or sealed up and closed according to law.