Why do you refuse to eat wild animals?

I recently went to Guangzhou to participate in an activity with the theme of "protecting biodiversity and refusing to eat wild animals". The event was hosted by the local environmental protection bureau, and WCS participated as a special guest and friends of nature. The ceremony was held in Shamian Park, Shamian Island, Guangzhou. It is very grand, with environmental games, song and dance performances and so on. The organizer also organized some students and soldiers to participate. WCS brought promotional materials and a set of exhibition boards, and set up a booth at the event site for public consultation. These materials will also be left in the "Tiger Car" in Guangzhou, a long-term environmental publicity vehicle. It should be said that this activity has achieved the predetermined effect in form. However, due to the small number of citizens involved and the public's boycott, the activity has no practical effect. Although some people in our booth actively collect information, some people are no longer willing to collect information once they know that it is about refusing to eat wild animals.

From this, I also know that it is really difficult to change the habit of eating wild animals in Guangzhou. However, I also met many environmental protection volunteers in Guangzhou, who are very enthusiastic about wildlife protection. After the speech, many people raised good questions. Some people spontaneously organized themselves to participate in the discussion on whether to ban wild animals in Guangdong and told some "anecdotes". On the whole, there were two factions at this meeting, one supporting fasting and the other opposing it. The debate between the two sides is fierce. They said that some opponents think that if human beings want to evolve, they must eat more advanced wild animals, which is "interesting". There are many different views in the local media. Someone published an article introducing delicious food before the complete end of SARS, and specially invited an expert and a senior chef to testify that only game is delicious. In other words, don't eat wild ones! This situation is actually a very common idea in Guangzhou.

There is a Chinese herbal medicine market near my hotel, which is 5 minutes' walk away, so I took an afternoon to have a look. It is found that there is really a big market, and all kinds of Chinese herbal medicines are complete, and some are more expensive. Many shops are filled with all kinds of shark's fin, bird's nest, Cordyceps sinensis, deer tendon, seahorse, tortoise shell, turtle shell, centipede, various insects, wild and planted Ganoderma lucidum and so on. Some are made in China, and some are foreign, but the specific source is not clear, because if the shopkeeper thinks you are not like a buyer, you are generally not very enthusiastic and defensive. Of course, some common herbs can also be bought there. For example, I bought roses for only 10 yuan per catty. They smell good.

Guangzhou's wildlife trade is very famous, so you must go and see it. On the afternoon of September 2nd, we went to the Tea Head Wildlife Trade Market with three volunteers. Because there is a person who likes snakes with us, we went to see the snake area first. All kinds of snakes along the road are put in special transparent bags, including cobra, water snake, king cobra, Agkistrodon, snake with welded head, squirrel snake and so on. Many species belong to Appendix 2 of CITES, some of which I can't name. In order not to be suspected, we bought a snakeskin bag and a small snake with a weight of 1 kg in the market, ready to be released. The market stinks, dead snakes can be seen everywhere, and the skin shed by snakes can also be seen everywhere. Due to the neglect of cleaning, you can clearly see the traces of dead snakes lying on the ground rotting. We took a fancy to a king snake with eyes and teased it with a wooden stick. The stall owner came to meet us. I weighed the snake by hand, about 10 kg. The stall owner said that a snake needs at least 1 0,000 yuan. We left on an excuse. When I came out, I saw that there were aquatic products for sale outside, including red-eared turtles and a black-skinned turtle (probably an Indo-Chinese box turtle).

Turn to another street to sell birds. The first few stalls are mostly sparrows, pheasants and ducks, one cage at a time, which is very spectacular. Gradually, I saw some herons and night herons, both birds and young birds, and young birds of gulls (more like silver gulls) and young birds of egrets. Because I heard that the night heron tastes bad in Shanghai, no one cares, so I asked about the price here and replied that 20 yuan is delicious and nourishing. Further inside, I saw peacocks (artificially raised), turtledoves with pearl necks, fire turtledoves (mostly wild) and so on. According to a companion, the last time they came with reporters, they also saw egrets and thrushes. Many birds are kept in small cages, perhaps to prevent them from struggling. It is said that blackbirds often fly around in cages, causing injuries, and it takes a period of domestication before they can be put in. These caged birds are waiting for their fate as food. Because the birdcage is small, there is no room for birds to move, and food and water are not enough. Due to the impatient care of traffickers, the mortality rate of birds is very high, especially young birds, whose bodies can often be seen on the ground.

The most terrible thing in the whole market is the mammal area, where the smell is also the most "rich". When I walked into this area, I didn't expect that there were so many cats and dogs on sale in the market. Because my two colleagues love cats and dogs, they linger, but this also makes many stall owners quite wary of us. Because Cantonese people think that eating kittens is not only not tonic, but also toxic, so cats are all adults. Among them, we found Persian cats and other cats with better varieties. If they are sold in Shanghai, they are expensive, but here they are only regarded as carnivores. It is said that many cats here are stolen and sold in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Besides cats and dogs, there are many civets. No one seems to care that this animal was once regarded as a suspect of SARS. In addition, there are many wild boars, most of which are young pigs, but from the characteristics of skin color, some of them are probably hybrids with domestic pigs. However, because I have never seen a real wild boar, it is difficult to judge. There is also a porcupine in the market. It's the first time to see it so closely, which is very fresh, but also very sad.

As can be seen from the signs in the market, not only these kinds of wild animals are sold here. After SARS, the market has been depressed, but almost no stalls are closed, which shows that the recovery trend is obvious. Some shopkeepers hang posters to protect animals in their stores, but they still sell animals that are forbidden to be sold outside. When we asked the heron, the shopkeeper said it was protected and could not be sold. Further questioning, he said that he had a license, which really didn't matter. In order to avoid possible conflicts, I only took two photos from a distance outside the market. If I photograph all the scenes in the market, it is not an exaggeration to describe them as shocking. After returning to the hotel, I couldn't calm down for a long time.