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China’s Draft List of Animals Allowed for Food Consumption Does Not Include Dogs, Pangolins or Bats

The draft list includes traditional meats and some “specialty” items like deer, alpaca, and ostriches—but no bats, civet cats, pangolins, or dogs.

The Chinese government has issued a draft list of livestock and other animals that can be safely eaten in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, CNN reports. The list does not include dogs, or bats or pangolins, which are thought to have passed COVID-19 to humans. Beijing temporarily banned all wet markets, but the new list implies a roadmap back to the sale of some meats in such settings. Traditional animals like pigs, cows, chickens, and sheep remain on the new list, as are “specialty livestock” including deer, alpaca, and ostriches. The list also includes some animals like fox, raccoons, and minks that can be kept as livestock but are not to be used for food, implying their fur could still be used. Animal-welfare groups have applauded the new list. “With the progress of human civilization and the public’s concern and preference for animal protection, dogs have evolved from traditional livestock to companion animals,” according to an accompanying note by the Chinese government. “They are generally no longer regarded as livestock in the rest of the world. It is not advisable to list them under livestock or poultry in China.”