Coronavirus: China talks to Ban Residents Eating Dogs

The Chinese government has been under pressure from animal rights activists for years, who have demanded the country prohibits the consumption of dogs.

A Chinese city has drafted new laws to ban residents from eating dogs and other controversial animal meat as China battles to improve food safety in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

Lawmakers in Shenzhen have drafted emergency legislation to outlaw the consumption of dogs along with snake, frog, and turtle meat. Should the proposal from Shenzhen pass this week, it will be the first of its kind in China.

China's annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival is one of the most controversial food festivals in the world. Every year, thousands of dogs are cruelly killed at Yulin before being skinned, cooked with blow-torches, and then eaten by locals.

The news comes after China banned all trade and consumption of wild animals, a practice believed responsible for the country's deadly virus epidemic.