Shenzhen bans consumption of cats and dogs

Just over three months after the outbreak of coronavirus in China, the south-eastern city of Shenzhen has become the first city to ban the consumption of animals raised as pets that include dogs and cats.

Shenzen will also prohibit the consumption of all state-protected wild animals and other wild animals, as well as captive-bred and farmed wild animals, as reported by CNN

The new rules also ban the consumption of dogs and cats, which are raised as pets. The law would come into effect on May 1.

However, China has an extensive list of the animals that can be consumed, these include pig, cattle, sheep, donkey, rabbit, chicken, duck, goose, pigeon, quail, as well as aquatic animals who are not banned by other laws or regulations.

Authorities in the city have announced a fine of 30 times more than the wild animal's value if convicted.

"If convicted, they will be subjected to a fine of 30 times of the wild animal's value, if the animal is above the value of 10,000CNY [$1400 USD]," announced authorities.

It is believed that the coronavirus outbreak started at a wildlife market in the city of Wuhan, and authorities have agreed that they need to bring the country's lavish wildlife industry under control to prevent another such disease outbreak.

Following the coronavirus outbreak, China in February banned the consumption of wild animals.

Worldwide there are over 1,000,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, which include more than 51,000 deaths and 208,600 recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins University.