Police in Kunming, Southwest China’s Yunnan Porvince show the 702 wildlife products seized on November 23, 2018. File Photo: cnsphotos

Southwest China's Yunnan Province has vowed to fully ban illegal trading and hunting of wildlife starting next month, said the provincial government on Sunday. 

A regulation was put forward by the Yunnan government on Sunday, which stipulates a full ban on illegal trading of wildlife, and ending the habit of eating wildlife. The province also said it will  crackdown on cross-border illegal trading and smuggling of wildlife, according to media reports. 

The move also includes ecological preservation in the province's annual evaluation, and establishes a system to trace violators. 

Experts noted that as a border province, Yunnan has witnessed more illegal trading and smuggling of wildlife than other inland Chinese provinces, and the move shows the province's determination in ending the eating and eliminating the trade of wild animals. 

In February, forest police in Yunnan busted a case involving the illegal trading of rare and endangered wildlife products and captured one suspect. Thirty-one pieces of ivory, two pangolin scales and the skull of a helmeted hornbill were seized at the home of the suspect, surnamed Huang, in Kunming, the provincial capital.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, many Chinese provinces and cities, including Wuhan, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, have imposed strict bans on trading and consuming of wildlife, a move designed to protect public health. 

Global Times