Impact on Policy

Farmed wild animals have already benefited from COVID-19 policymaking. In early February, China’s Politburo committed to “resolutely ban and severely crack down on illegal wildlife markets and trade.” A few weeks later, the National People’s Congress adopted a comprehensive ban on farming, hunting, and selling wild animals for meat. And while a similar ban after the 2003 SARS outbreak was short-lived and poorly enforced, Chinese officials gave detailed plans to enforce this one. Within days, the Guardian reported that China had shut down at least 19,000 wildlife farms (which confine undomesticated animals, like frogs and squirrels).



The ban is a positive step, but incomplete. It only covers wildlife raised for “edible uses”: the larger population of wildlife farmed for fur and medicinal products are excluded. It also only covers wildlife markets, not the much larger — and equally cruel — live markets for farm animals. Shenzhen has already redefined aquatic wild animals, like frogs and turtles, as farm animals to allow their continued farming and trade. (Though five Chinese provinces have temporarily closed live poultry markets, and investment bank Jefferies speculates that Chinese authorities may close the markets in cities nationwide.)



By the way, these exceptions appear to be the source of a spate of recent headlines claiming that China has reopened its wild animal markets. This purported action earned condemnations from Tucker Carlson, Lindsay Graham, and even Dr. Anthony Fauci — and an op-ed defending the decision in The Washington Post. But all of these reports appear to be based on one by the UK’s Daily Mail, whose correspondents documented wet markets selling farm animals and medicinal products from wild animals — which, unfortunately, were never covered by the ban.



It’s unclear whether other Asian nations will follow suit. So far only Vietnam has, but advocates from India to the Philippines are pushing for bans. There aren’t reliable statistics on live markets, but one expert estimates that “millions of animals [are] for sale on a daily basis” in markets across the region. After the 2003 SARS outbreak, the Chinese authorities reportedly confiscated over 800,000 wild animals in markets in Guangzhou alone. Billions of chickens and fish are likely traded through the live markets of India and Indonesia each year.



The policy implications for meat production are less clear. Analysts expect China to accelerate its national transition toward large-scale factory farms, which officials believe are better equipped to implement strict biosecurity measures than backyard farms. And recent EU and US stimulus packages include substantial subsidies for the fishing and meat industries. But the crisis has also drawn attention to the public health risks of animal agriculture, and analysts expect China to promote plant-based meat to diversify in the wake of the crisis.