Shenzen lawmakers proposed a law banning residents to eat dog meat to improve food safety amid the coronavirus epidemic.
This will be the first of its kind in the country should this law is passed.
The proposal comes after China banned the trade and consumption of wild animals, which is believed to be the source of the deadly epidemic.
Shenzen lawmakers published the draft on the government website, and they are awaiting feedback from the public before making it into a law.
The officials dubbed the law as a “universal civilization requirement of a modern society,” but also considered the practical situation before including other animal species to the proposal.
Their end goal is to, “further satisfy the daily needs of the people”
The document names nine types of livestock that are suitable for human consumption, which are pigs, cows, sheep, donkeys, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and pigeons.
On top of this, certain aquatic animals can be consumed, as long as the law permits it.
“There are so many animal species in nature. In our country alone, there are more than 2,000 kinds of protected wild animal species,” one official states.
Animal activists have been tirelessly demanding the Chinese government to ban dog meat consumption for years.
China is also accused of tolerating trade in exotic animals for food or traditional medicine, in which its efficacy is not backed by modern science.
The most controversial of them all is the Annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival, where thousands of dogs are cruelly killed before being served to the locals.
China’s top legislative committee passed a law to ban all trade and consumption of wild animals on Monday.
According to the People’s Daily, Beijing is to amend their wild animal protection law, and that it is now increasingly “essential” and “urgent” so that it may help in assisting the country to win the war against the deadly epidemic.