In February, the government of China issued decisions relating to a total prohibition on illegal wildlife trade, with an aim to eliminate the eating of wildlife and safeguard the lives and health of the public. This decision put a prohibition on the breeding of and trade in most terrestrial wild animal species for the purposes of consumption as food but continues to permit the breeding and trade in wild animal species, including species threatened by trade, for non-food purposes, such as traditional medicine, ornamental items, and fur. Allowing these exemptions undermines the coherence, ambition, and likely effectiveness of the decisions.
Born Free USA joined other wildlife conservation groups and conservation experts to call the government of China to expand the scope of the February decisions to end commercial breeding and trade for production of fur and to draw up a list of wild animal species which cannot be bred commercially for any form of trade.