A virus, 99 percent similar and carried by the animal, is believed to have been passed onto humans through the exotic restaurant trade in the south of China.

The rest is history. It caused one of the biggest ever global health scares.

In recent days Chinese government officials have been gathering the know-how of experts to strengthen management and quarantine measures on wild animals to curb the possibility of other diseases being passed onto humans.

"More comprehensive and stricter supervision and quarantine measures must be taken immediately on the producing, marketing, and processing of those wild animals in the markets,'' Jiang Zhigang told China Daily Tuesday.

Jiang, chairman of the Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Science, has recently returned from a brain-storming session organized by the State Forestry Administration.

The poor and weak management, protection and supervision on the trade in wild animals has stirred considerable unease in recent days after scientists in South China revealed last week that the SARS virus probably comes from the masked palm civet.

The civet, a small long-furry-tailed mammal, and many other species of wild creatures including snakes, are widely traded in markets specializing in the sale of wildlife in China, especially in South China's Guangdong Province where the first case of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) was found last November.

In recent years a number of strict measures and laws to halt illegal of hunting, processing, purchasing or slaughtering wildlife have been introduced by the government.

But despite the threat of jail and fines the trade has continued with poaching even in nature reserves. The captured wildlife is then illegally sold to restaurants.

Many types of wild animals are also bred in captivity to meet the increasing market demand, which to some extent, reduces the activities of poachers.

There are, in fact, about 600 masked palm civet breeding farms with 40,000 civets on the Chinese mainland, said Jiang.

He urged relevant government departments, such as the State Forestry Administration, to clarify exactly what types of wild animals can be farmed.

Meanwhile, standards involving breeding methods, sanitation and quarantine needed to be drawn up to prevent the spread of infectious diseases which can live both in wild animals and humans from being passed onto people, said Jiang .

The government has launched a nationwide inspection of masked palm civets and almost all farms have been told to segregate these animals while further investigations are conducted.

Beijing wildlife protection authorities inspected the only farm for breeding the animal in the city on Monday and ordered that it be temporarily sealed off.

It is reported that there are a total of more than 200 potentially edible masked palm civets on the farm although none of the creatures have been sold since it opened last March.

The animals were intended for sale in southern China, but for now they will stay put. Transportation and sale of the animal is forbidden while prevention and quarantine measures are enhanced. There has been no reported SARS case on the farm to date.

As Beijing restaurants are not in the habit of serving masked palm civets, the most usual place to spot the little creatures are in cages in the city's zoos. "There are nine masked palm civets in our zoo,'' said Ye Mingxia, who works at Beijing Zoo, "but they have been moved out from the exhibition area since last Saturday and are now under quarantine.''

Ye said there had been no confirmed or suspected SARS cases among either employees or at the zoo and called for objective and scientific treatment of animals. Beijing Wildlife Park in the northern outskirts of Beijing has been closed since early May.

Measures have been taken to strengthen the management of masked palm civets across the country and restrict their movements.

Other methods concerning the animal are still being discussed by the State Forestry Administration and other relevant authorities.

(China Daily May 28, 2003)