The Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China claimed they were selling live koalas, wolf pups, rats and snakes for locals to eat.
The food market at the center of coronavirus outbreak came under fire after officials said the SARS-like virus may have originated in a wild animal sold at the stores.
Authorities labeled the market ‘ground zero.’
As of writing this, coronavirus has already killed 18 people and infected hundreds not only in China but also in the US, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Thailand.
The price list for one store operating at the market revealed the animals available for sale include live crocodiles, peacocks, koalas, giant salamanders, wolf puppies, foxes, and rats, according to the South China Morning Post.
Many Chinese social media users were also shocked at the wildlife being offered at the market.
One Chinese wrote on Weibo: “Just took a closer look at the viral wild animal menu – they even eat Koalas.”
Another commented: “There’s nothing Chinese people won’t eat.”
The Wild Game Animal Husbandry for the Masses’ price list, which contains 112 live animals and animal products, said: “Freshly slaughtered, frozen and delivered to your door.”
The director of the Chinese center for disease control and prevention, Gao Fu, said that authorities believe the deadly virus came from ‘wild animals at the seafood market’ but the exact source is still not identified.
While the country bans the trafficking of a number of species or necessitates licenses, rules are loose for other species commercially farmed.
Early sufferers of the SARS-like virus were workers of the market.
One internet user commented: “Were the authorities asleep…..?”
Another wrote: “Since when, and by whom, were live KOALAS classified as seafood, along with foxes, wolf cubs, rats, terrestrial snakes etc. ?.”
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Replaced!