Latest findings show that some wild animals carry the SARS coronavirus. Though the source of SARS hasn't been found, more and more people realize that it is uncivilized and unhealthy to eat wildlife, according to Zhuo Rongsheng, director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation under the State Forestry Administration.

Market is the source of wildlife trade.

According to Du Yongsheng, director of Forest Security Department under the State Forestry Administration, they have cracked down on 7,000 cases and seized 1.4 million wild animals including 56,000 under First-Grade State Protection over the past 12 months.

Due to increasingly serious wildlife poaching and smuggling, many species have got badly damaged, Du noted. The existence of wildlife markets with staggering profits provides a hotbed for offenders. The lack of wildlife protection consciousness also promotes wildlife crime activities objectively, according to him.

Guangdong and Guangxi people have earned a reputation for eating anything that moves. Statistic shows people could eat more than one million paddy sparrows in a year. The trade of snake reaches 10 tons every day in Guangzhou. In some illegal restaurants, the price of pangolins is 800 yuan (US$96.65) per kilogram and that of the Chrysolophus amherstiae is 1,200 yuan (US$144.98) per kilogram. The reason for restaurants to provide wildlife is high profits and the attraction of customers.

Poaching reduces the number of wildlife.

According to Chen Runsheng, secretary-general of the China Wildlife Conservation Association, an investigation shows people in 22 cities have the habit of eating wild animals including those under First-Grade State Protection. Now, the resources of wild birds have been badly damaged in Guangdong Province. The number of wild pangolins used to be 1.5 million, but now only 300,000 left. It is very hard for the offenders to poach wildlife in China due to decreasing numbers of wild animals, so they reach their hands out to neighboring countries.

Gourmands are as guilty as the poachers and traders.

Now, only the poachers and wildlife traders are punished by laws, there are no regulations or limitations for wildlife gourmands. Experts point out that it is a misunderstanding to restrict these gourmands only by moralities. Laws should be enacted to punish them for they are as guilty as the wildlife poachers and traders. Otherwise, the wild animal poaching and trading will never die out because of the economic laws.

Zhuo Rongshen said: "In order to keep ecological balance and people's health, we have to strengthen the education and the enaction of laws to change people's bad habit of eating wildlife."

Experts called on the National People's Congress (NPC) to amend and perfect Laws on Wildlife Protection. Uniform regulations should be enacted to restrict actions of wildlife eating. Never eating wild animals should be written into the Party constitution as a discipline. The government should strengthen science education to the public by television, radio, newspapers and the Internet.

(China.org.cn by Wu Nanlan, June 16, 2003)