Shenzhen has become the primary Chinese city to ban the sale and consumption of a dog and cat meat. It comes after the corona virus outbreak was linked to wildlife meat, prompting Chinese authorities to ban the trade and consumption of untamed animals. Shenzhen went a step further, extending the ban to dogs and cats. The new law will be inherited force on 1 May. Thirty million, dogs a year is killed across Asia for meat, says Humane Society International (HSI). However, the practice of eating dog meat in China isn, 't that common — the bulk of Chinese people haven't done so and say they do not want to. “Dogs and cats as pets have established a way closer relationship with humans than all other animals, and banning the consumption of dogs and cats, and other pets may be a common practice in developed countries, and in Hong Kong and Taiwan,” the Shenzhen city government said, consistent with a Reuters report. “This ban also responds to the demand, and spirit of human civilization.” The race to seek out the source of corona virus in wildlife Animal advocacy organization HSI praised the move. “This really might be a watershed moment in efforts to finish this brutal trade that kills an it is estimated that 10 million dogs and 4 million cats in China per annum,” said Dr Peter Li, China policy specialist for HSI. However, at an equivalent time as this ruling, China approved the utilization of bear bile to treat corona virus patients. Bear bile — a digestive juice drained from living captive bears — has long been utilized in traditional Chinese medicine. The active ingredient, ursodeoxycholic acid, is employed to dissolve gallstones, and treat disease. But there's no proof that it's effective against the corona virus and therefore, the process is painful and distressing for the animals Brian Daily, a spokesman for the Animals Asia Foundation, told AFP: “We should not be counting on wildlife products like bear bile because the solution to combat a deadly virus that appears to possess originated from wildlife.”