Beijing, December 24: The Chinese authorities on Thursday issued a guidelines against the illegal purchase of wild animals for consumption or other purposes. According to these guidelines people involved in the illegal purchase of the wild animals will be strictly punished reported China's state media People's Daily. China's Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice have jointly issued the guidelines in this context. Wuhan Bans Eating And Hunting Wild Animals As COVID-19 Cases Reappear in China.

The guidelines aim to eliminate the practice of eating the wild animals in the country. People involved in the illegal hunting and killing of wildlife, illegal trading of wild animals, their transportation, sales, import and export of wildlife and wildlife products among others will be strictly punished the new guidelines. Strict actions will be taken against people involved in any of these. China Removes Pangolin Scales From List of Traditional Medicines Raising Protection for World's Most Trafficked Animal.

Other factors, including whether the animals involved are artificially bred, how endangered the species are and the intensity of damage to wildlife resources, should be taken into account while announcing punishment for the same, the guidelines said.

Earlier in May, China's Wuhan had ordered a ban on eating and hunting wild animals as the cases of COVID-19 started to reappear in the country. According to a statement by local administration had said, "there will be a ban on the sale and eating of terrestrial wild animals that are both in the wild as well as bred and reared."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 24, 2020 03:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).