Shenzhen bans eating of cats and dogs

published : 2 Apr 2020 at 12:07

ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Reuters

Residents buy groceries by standing on chairs and tree stumps to peer over barriers set up around a wet market on a street in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicentre of China's coronavirus disease, on Wednesday. (Photo: Reuters)

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 start 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 Shenzhen said the ban on eating dogs and cats would start 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.

Dogs, in particular, are eaten in several parts of Asia.

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Vocabulary

authority (noun): a person or government agency who has the power to make decisions or enforce the law - เจ้าหน้าที่ผู้มีอำนาจ
ban: an official statement ordering people not to do, sell or use something - การห้าม
civet: a wild animal like a cat, that lives in central Africa and Asia -
consumption: the act of using energy, food or materials; the amount used - การบริโภคพลังงาน, การใช้หมดไป
developed country (noun): a rich industrialized country - ประเทศพัฒนา
disease (noun): a health problem and problem with a person's body, often caused by an infection, either from a bacteria or virus - โรค
exposure: the state of being put into a situation in which something harmful or dangerous might affect you - การสัมผัส, การเปิดรับ
in particular: especially or particularly - โดยเฉพาะ, โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่ง
practice: a way of doing something - การปฏิบัติ
suspect: to believe that something is true, especially something bad - สงสัย, เป็นที่สงสัยว่า

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