China's Ban on Eating Endangered Animals: The 2014 Law and 2020 Ban

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Yes. In April 2014 China made it explicit that eating a protected wild animal, or buying one for any purpose, is a crime that can lead to prison. The rule covers 420 species the government lists as rare or endangered, from giant pandas and golden monkeys to Asian black bears and pangolins. Six years later, in February 2020, China went much further and banned eating almost all wild land animals, whether caught in the wild or bred on farms.

Here is what changed in each step, why it mattered, and where the gaps still are.

This panda at Chengdu's giant panda research base is probably safe from poaching, but now its cousins in the wild may be a little safer too.
A giant panda at the Chengdu research base for giant panda breeding. Photo: Colegota (Wikimedia Commons).

What the 2014 decision actually said

On 24 April 2014 the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, voted on a legal interpretation of the country's Criminal Law. It did not create a brand-new law. Instead it closed a loophole: the existing rules punished poachers and smugglers, but the people who ordered a rare dish in a restaurant or paid for a tiger-bone tonic usually walked away.

Under the interpretation, anyone who knowingly eats listed wild animals, or buys them for any other use, is treated as having broken the Criminal Law. Depending on how serious the case is, the penalties run from under five years to more than ten years in prison. Knowingly buying animals that were hunted illegally was classed as handling stolen goods, with a maximum of three years.

China Daily reported that this was only the tenth time the legislature had issued an interpretation of the Criminal Law since the law took effect in 1997, which shows how unusual the step was.

Why lawmakers targeted the buyers

The reasoning was simple economics. As long as people will pay high prices, poachers will take the risk. Lang Sheng, deputy head of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, told lawmakers that eating rare wild animals was a main reason illegal hunting carried on despite repeated crackdowns. In his words, "buyers are a major motivator of large-scale illegal hunting."

Demand comes from several directions:

  • Food and status. Rare meat has long been served at banquets as a sign of wealth and influence. In early 2014, Chinese media reported a case in which a gang was accused of killing tigers for paying customers, which drew national attention.
  • Traditional medicine. Tiger bone, bear bile and pangolin scales have been sold as remedies for centuries. Pangolin scales are made mostly of keratin, the same protein as human fingernails, and evidence-based reviews have found no benefit beyond placebo.
  • Ornaments and luxury goods. Ivory carvings and skins are bought as investments and gifts.

China is far from the only market for wildlife, but it is one of the largest. That is why a change in Chinese law could matter far beyond its borders, in places such as Southeast Asia and Africa where many of these animals are now hunted.

Which animals are protected, and how many

The 420 species on the official list include some of the best-known animals in Asia: giant pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys, Asian black bears, pangolins, South China tigers and Chinese alligators. The South China tiger has not been confirmed in the wild for decades and survives mainly in zoos and breeding centres, which shows how late protection can come.

The list is only a slice of China's wildlife. According to China Daily, the country is home to around 6,500 vertebrate species, roughly a tenth of the world's total. Many threatened species are not on the list at all, and many animals traded in China are caught in neighbouring countries, where Chinese law has no reach.

The weak points critics pointed out

Conservation groups welcomed the 2014 step but raised several concerns that still shape the debate:

  • Captive breeding stayed legal. Farms licensed to breed protected species could keep selling products. Critics warned that farmed goods give cover to wild-caught ones: once a bear paw is on a plate, it is hard to prove where it came from.
  • Proof of knowledge. The law punishes people who buy "knowingly". Showing that a diner knew a dish came from a protected species can be difficult.
  • Enforcement. Laws on paper do little without inspections, prosecutions and public support. Reports at the time alleged that some officials were themselves among the customers for rare foods.

Even so, attitudes were shifting. Public campaigns featuring the basketball star Yao Ming, with the message "no trading, no killing," had already helped cut demand for shark fin soup, and in late 2013 the government had removed shark fin and some wild-animal dishes from official banquets.

Enforcement around the same time

The law came during a period of stronger action against wildlife crime. In early 2014 an international operation led by China, known as Cobra II, dealt with more than 350 cases involving over 400 suspects. Officials seized more than three tonnes of ivory and ivory products and over 1,000 animal hides.

The scale of the problem is large. The International Fund for Animal Welfare estimated in 2013 that the illegal wildlife trade was worth at least 19 billion US dollars a year, placing it among the most valuable illegal trades in the world. Other estimates differ, because black markets are hard to measure, but every serious estimate puts the figure in the billions.

You may also see the claim that Viagra reduced demand for animal-based aphrodisiacs. A few researchers have suggested a modest effect for some products, but the evidence is thin, and it did nothing to reduce demand for tiger bone or pangolin scales, which are sold for other reasons.

2020: from 420 species to almost all wild land animals

The next big change came during the first weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak. On 24 February 2020, the NPC Standing Committee decided to prohibit hunting, trading, transporting and eating terrestrial wild animals for food, whether captive-bred or wild-caught. This was a far wider ban than the 2014 rule, which had covered only listed species.

Some exceptions remained. Fish and other aquatic animals not otherwise protected were excluded, as were livestock and poultry. Non-food uses such as traditional medicine, fur, zoos, pets and research were not banned, but were placed under strict approval and quarantine rules.

The Wildlife Conservation Society welcomed the decision but warned that the non-food exemptions could create "a potential loophole for traffickers," and argued that only a broader ban on live trade in wild birds and mammals would truly reduce the risk of new diseases.

What it means for travellers and readers

For most people the practical takeaways are straightforward:

  • Do not buy or eat wild meat, bear bile, tiger products, pangolin scales or ivory, in China or anywhere else. Apart from the legal risk, every purchase keeps the trade alive.
  • If a menu or shop offers rare animals, you can report it to local authorities or to conservation groups that run hotlines.
  • Be sceptical of health claims for wildlife products. If you are considering any remedy, talk to a doctor.
  • Bringing wildlife products home can also break the laws of your own country under the CITES convention.

Laws alone rarely save a species, but they change what is normal. The 2014 decision told diners that the bill for a rare dish could include prison time. The 2020 decision pushed that message much further. Whether the animals benefit depends on how firmly the rules are enforced and on how many people simply choose not to buy.

Sources: China Daily: China to jail eaters of rare wild animals (25 April 2014); Wildlife Conservation Society statement on China's February 2020 decision; Wikipedia: Pangolin trade. The story was first covered on this site via IFLScience. Panda photo: Colegota, Wikimedia Commons.

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