Official: Wildlife should not be eaten
( 2003-07-28 06:51) (China Daily)
The protection of wild animals and the health of
human beings should be given equal priority in the revised version of the
Wildlife Conservation Law being drafted, said a legislative official.
It
should prohibit the eating of wild animals, said Sun Youhai, an official with
the Environmental and Resources Protection Committee of the National People's
Congress.
This year's legislative agenda of the Congress Standing
Committee, the country's top legislative body, includes the revision of the 1988
Wildlife Conservation Law.
"The protection of both wild animals and people's
health accords with current thinking about wildlife protection in the whole of
society,'' Sun said.
Public concern over the relationship between human
beings and wild animals has grown since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory
syndrome (SARS).
Reports by some scientists in the national media
suggested the potentially fatal virus was initially transmitted to humans after
people ate animals such as the masked palm civet, although this has not been
proved categorically.
"The bad habit of eating wild animals not only
harms the health of human beings but jeopardizes efforts to better protect wild
animals,'' Sun said.
Xu Ping, dean of the Law Department of Beijing
Forestry University, said a ban on the eating of wild animals would be a great
help in stemming the market and eventually stopping the poaching of wild
animals.
"Sustainable development is a solution to get out of such a
dilemma but not everyone can fully understand its importance,'' Xu
said.
She said legislators should carefully seek a balance so that human
beings can live in harmony with the environment.
Poaching and the
illegal selling of wild animals are still persistent problems in wildlife
conservation in China, said Ma Fu, deputy director of the State Forestry
Administration. Xu said all environmental laws face the dilemma of whether they
should centre on human beings or stress the philosophy that all creatures are
equal.
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