AR-News: Rats to SARS, diners still lap it up

Tue Dec 23 19:19:01 EST 2003

Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 09:57:01 +0800
Subject: Chinese restaurant selling rat dishes despite health warnings

Rats to SARS, diners still lap it up
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8234213%255E13762,00.html
>From correspondents in Beijing
December 22, 2003

A RESTAURANT in southern China's Guangdong province is doing a brisk
business in rat dishes, ignoring warnings to stop serving wildlife to
prevent the spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

The eatery in the city of Zhuhai sells more than 100 rat dishes a day,
the state-run Information Times reported yesterday. Some of the rats are
caught on farms, while others are from the mountains. 

Southern Chinese believe rodents are safe to eat or turn into wine if
caught wild in the countryside. 

But regardless of whether the rodents are from rural or urban areas,
they can still transmit diseases, the report quoted experts as saying. 

The outbreak of SARS in Guangdong last November did not discourage
locals from their eating habits. 

Scientists from China and elsewhere found the SARS virus in several
types of wildlife, including rats, and the Government banned vendors
from selling wild animals. 

Officials also tried to discourage people from eating such creatures,
but the practice, part of Guangdong culture, continues. 

Rats served by the restaurant can be as big as 20cm long. The restaurant
skins the rodents by putting them in a pot of melted asphalt. Their skin
comes free when the cooled asphalt is peeled off. 

Agence France-Presse

the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe
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