China's Shenzhen bans eating of cats, dogs after coronavirus

• Authorities in the southern Chinese technology hub said the ban on eating dogs and cats would come into force on May 1.

The Chinese city of Shenzhen has banned the eating of dogs and cats as part of a wider clampdown on the wildlife trade since the emergence of the new coronavirus.

Scientists suspect the coronavirus passed to humans from animals. Some of the earliest infections were found in people who had exposure to a wildlife market in the central city of Wuhan, where bats, snakes, civets and other animals were sold.

The disease has infected more than 935,000 people around the world and killed some 47,000 of them.

Authorities in the southern Chinese technology hub said the ban on eating dogs and cats would come into force on May 1.

“Dogs and cats as pets have established a much closer relationship with humans than all other animals, and banning the consumption of dogs and cats and other pets is a common practice in developed countries and in Hong Kong and Taiwan,” the city government said in an order posted on Wednesday.

“This ban also responds to the demand and spirit of human civilization.”

“Shenzhen is the first city in the world to take the lessons learned from this pandemic seriously and make the changes needed to avoid another pandemic,” said Teresa M. Telecky, the vice president of the wildlife department for Humane Society International.

“Shenzhen’s bold steps to stop this trade and wildlife consumption is a model for governments around the world to emulate.”