Wildlife markets, where wild animals are sold and slaughtered on site, have been implicated in global disease spread in the past and most recently in the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, increasing pressure on China to end its wildlife trade. Photo by Dog Meat Free Indonesia

Four Chinese provinces will offer farmers a government buy-out or other financial help to stop breeding wild animals like civets and cobras for food. This move is part of a continuing crackdown by China and its individual provinces and cities on the nation’s rampant wildlife trade for food in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, and it could be a promising blueprint for the rest of the nation for ending this inhumane trade.

China’s wildlife markets, where wild animals are sold and slaughtered on site, have been implicated in disease spread in the past and most recently in the ​ongoing coronavirus…