Broad coalition forming in US to pressure China to close wet markets

Customers select seafood at a wet market in Dandong, Liaoning province, China

Washington [US], Apr 08 (ANI): A coalition consisting of Senators, activists and Humane Society of the United States is being formed to exert pressure on China to close the infamous wet markets of wild food markets for bat, cat and dog mean blamed for the outbreak of the coronavirusand a number of other pandemics.

Its members likely to include US President Donald Trump’s daughter in law Lara Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham, and several animal rights activists, including the Humane Society of the United States, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Animal Wellness Action, reported Washington Examiner. The goal is to put pressure on Beijing directly to close the markets like in Wuhan.

The group of people who are in favour of this move, applying efforts to focus on stopping the reopening of the “wet markets,” “It is undeniable that the risks posed by ‘wet markets’ are too great and the cruelty too severe to allow them to operate even one more day,” said LaraTrump. “I hope for the sake of humanity the country immediately discontinues this horrific and cruel tradition,” she told Secrets. Several online petitions have already taken off. PETA has one with over 100,000 signatures.

It urges the World Health Organization to close the markets worldwide. PETA’s Ashley Byrne said the virus is a “wake up call” to force the markets to close, including those in the U.S. — there are some 80 in New York that hawk birds and goats. “This absolutely should be a priority,” she said. Animal Wellness Action, run by former Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle, has also posted a petition against China.

“China’s decision to pull back on its decision to close wet markets just days after announcing a ban on them is a public relations disaster,” said Pacelle. “You can draw a straight line from the Chinese government’s decision to promote wet markets as a business enterprise and the emergence of a deadly infectious disease that was the agent of this global catastrophe,” he said.

Huanan Seafood Market in China’s Wuhan is believed to be the epicenter of coronavirus , which swept the world, engulfing millions as far as the United States and killing over 75,000 people. Four months on, the pandemic seems to be far from over even as Beijing celebrates victory over coronavirus with no vaccination insight for the pathogen, which many people worldwide call Wuhan virus or Chinese virus. Various reports suggest that a 55-year-old man from China’s Hubei province could have been the first person to have contracted COVID-19 through one such ‘wet market’. (ANI)