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Since the COVID-19 outbreak, China has been proactive in strengthening its wildlife protection measures.
On February 24, China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), issued a nationwide ban on illegal wildlife trade and consumption.
Professor Yang Zhaoxia from Beijing Forestry University emphasized the importance of this move. \\"The current legislation mainly concerns the ecological aspect of wild animal protection. Animals like bats were not included in the protection law. Now seeing that these animals are highly capable of transmitting viruses, the legislature issued the ban to prevent such risks to public health,\\" said Yang, director of the ecological law research center.
But the ban was just the beginning. Two months later, the NPC standing committee deliberated on two other relevant laws: one on animal epidemic prevention and another on bio-security.
Later this year, lawmakers are set to amend the country's Wildlife Protection Law, first enacted in 1989 and amended four times by 2018. Professor Yang, who participated in previous amendments, stated that the focus should now be on classification. \\"Currently there are two classifications of wild animals: those inhabiting the wild and those artificially bred. But this is not enough. We need to further classify what animals are edible and which are not. For example, those bred with mature technology and that meet sanitary standards should be allowed in markets,\\" Yang added.
Another expert, Zheng Hong, a member of the top political advisory body, called for enhanced law enforcement. \\"When amending the Wildlife Protection Law, it's crucial to work out the fine details, to emphasize stricter law enforcement, and promote inter-departmental cooperation. And the public should be involved to supervise law enforcement and provide information on violation cases,\\" said Zheng, Vice President of Xihua University.
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