Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I thought forum readers would be interested in this information from a Wall Street Journal article. the photo attached shows me in a food market that also had live softshelled turtles bagged in net sacks the way baking potatos are packaged here, and other interesting foodstuffs.

"In nearby Guangzhou (China), a city of about 10 million, people eat nearly eight million pounds of snake each year, says Jiang Zhigang, a fellow at the Animal Institute of the chinese Academy of Science," the paper reported.

"Chinese researchers also found that all six SARS patients linked to outbreaks of the disease in four Guangdong cities had eaten or handled wild animals within 20 days of falling ill...the research was muddled by the large range of animals that the people who tested positive work with. Masked palm civets, wild pigs, rabbits and snakes were the most common."

And then a little good news, since commerce has been decimating chinese wildlife, especially turtles:

"Even before the latest findings, Chinese authorities, acting on a hunch, last month banned the capture, transport, sale and purchase of almost all wild animals--dead or alive."

Unfortunately, according to the article compliance is at best sporadic: "The wildlife trade is so lucrative," the article says, "it 'is just like drug trafficking,' says Mr. Jiang Haisheng, professor of the South China Research Institute for endangered Animals."

I can tell you that they eat a LOT of snakes as well as other wildlife. There is a restaurant in Guangzhou that specializes in snakes, as well as one in Shanghai that specializes in rats and one in Beijing that specializes in dogs. It's not uncommon to find unusual things on menus there, especially in restaurants no frequented by foreigners. I've also seen dishes prepared from Flying Fox and Red Panda on menus there. Hell, while i was there, there were two men arrested and executed for selling human meat to restaurants from their father's funeral home. I've seen whole fried frogs (tiny ones), fried-live scorpions, cicadas, turtles and many other things that Westerners would consider oddities. However, you have to remember that this was a country that was literally starving to death from the early '50s through the early '80s. If you are starving, you will eat whatever is available. Lot's of "delicacies" started out this way. Can you imagine how hungry the first guy that ate a raw oyster had to be?

yes it is very sad that the wildlife is being decimated but it has been that way for many years. 8 million lbs of turtles for a city of 10 million people?? that's nothing if u think about turtles being one of your main (or only) source of protein- that's less than 1 lb of protein for each person!

how many lbs of beef do u think a big city like New York or Austin, TX consumes a year??

unfortunately people in china don't have the luxury that americans do of being able to go to the local safeway or supermarket to pick up fresh milk or buy some steak. for most of the poorer areas of that country, what u catch today is what you eat tonight.

i sometimes wonder what people from 3rd world countries would think if they saw americans go "hunting for sport" or eating at an "all u can eat buffet". those are all luxuries and we should be thankful that we are so lucky.

peace
-SFgeckos

-SFgeckos

conditions have improved dramatically in China. There is actually a middle class and a non-government affiliated upper class now.

The markets have plenty of fish, beef, chicken, duck, pork and mutton for sale. All sorts of vegetables, fruits, flour, rice, cooking oil...all the essentials are in good supply.

There is no real reason for them to eat turtles, snakes, rats, dogs, etc..according to OUR standards. However, our standards don't apply in China. There's a lot of things that we eat that the Chinese won't eat.

Much of the attitude (and eating habits) of Asian countries such as China come from times when food WAS scarce and you ate what you could get your hands on. If you do that long enough, some of those things are going to become "traditional foods" and delicacies.

They actually have farms where they raise frogs, turtles, crawfish, etc. for human consumption, both in China and for export.

In the countryside of China, almost every species of wildlife would be considered endangered if it were in the U.S. If you are a bird, you need to be in high gear everywhere you go. I'm not so sure that we can really blame the people for that, though. When you understand how the government under Chairman Mao operated, you'll understand why the people were starving. A starving person will eat what he can find. Period. That applies if he's Chinese, Yugoslavian, American or whatever. When conditions are like that, there will naturally be a lot of pressure on the wildlife.

In southern China the practices of eating whatever can be found is still going on today..Most other areas of China do have supplies of "regular" food as you might call it. My doctor is from Shanghai and her brother lives in southern China and she said they eat a lot of "non normal" foods IE Cats , dogs and a lot of snakes. Im sorry to say it but if it is helping a person live then I can understand it(killing & eating reptiles)being an ok practice in my book. Look at escargo? calamari? octopus(which is great btw)Who in their right mind would look at this and say mmm yummy looking! But they are delicices(I know I spelled that all wrong! ITS LATE ) Just bc americans dont consider it normal doesnt mean that it is wrong or immoral.

I agree completely. My point is that most of these unusual "delicacies" are borne out of someone eating something not normally on the Human menu because of extreme hunger, and saying "Hey, this is pretty good!" Then it's no longer eaten out of necessity, but becomes a delicacy and sticks around. When people are truly hungry, nothing that could be a source of protien and sustenance is wasted. When I was in China, I often was invited to people's houses for dinner. When there was fish for dinner, the whole fish was served head, eyes and all. The eyes were considered the "best" part of the fish and either the mother or the father of the house ate those. The idea was that there were only two small eyes on the fish, but lots of meat.

Most of us in America are not really familiar with the concept of actually starving to death. We've seen it on T.V., and we've read about it, but never really seen it. Sure, we've been hungry..like if we missed lunch and are feeling particularly "famished" at dinner time..stomach grumbling...maybe aching a little..but not truly starving. Believe me, if you are really starving you will eat your pet dog. The survival instinct will put a whole different set of priorities in place.

People like PETA will put forth the idea that animals have the same rights as people and animals should never be used for food, yadayadayada...but I think it's safe to say that those people have never been truly hungry (actually starving) either. I may be wrong about that...maybe they would actually starve to death before they would eat an animal. In my opinion, that would only serve to show that Darwin was right, there is a natural selection process where only the smartest survive.

I've been a reporter all my life. I was just passing on information.

YOU WROTE: "i sometimes wonder what people from 3rd world countries would think if they saw americans go "hunting for sport" or eating at an "all u can eat buffet". those are all luxuries and we should be thankful that we are so lucky. "

I couldn't agree more. Thanks for pointing out an important part of the story that wasn't in the story!

terry