Star Online, 11/19/03: SARS ban still bites snake traders in Hong Kong

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This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my)

URL:

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2003/11/19/features/6631181 & sec=\

features

 

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Wednesday November 19, 2003

SARS ban still bites

 

 

Hong Kong snake traders are on a slippery slope as China still has

not lifted its ban on wildlife exports, reports PETER LIM.

 

HONG KONG snake traders are in for a bleak winter as China's ban on

wildlife exports, introduced to curb SARS, threatens to deprive them

of their livelihood.

 

Traders fear their formerly flourishing business selling snakes as a

delicacy could even be doomed if the mainland ban continues

indefinitely.

 

They have written to the central government in Beijing pleading for

the ban to be lifted, claiming about 130 traditional snake shops and

1,000 employees are in danger.

 

The ban was introduced after Chinese researchers said the Severe

Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus found in three types of game

animals - civet cats, racoon dogs and badgers - could also be carried

by snakes and bats.

 

Most snakes from the mainland come from southern Guangxi and

Guangdong provinces.

 

SARS first surfaced in Guangdong last November before spreading to

more than 30 countries around the world, killing more than 800 people

out of some 8,000 infections. Most of the victims were in China and

Hong Kong.

 

Some restaurants offering annual snake banquets have cancelled their

events because of the shortages, while others were forced to accept

only advance orders, snake traders said.

 

Industry sources said some 90% of the snakes sold in Hong Kong were

from the mainland, while the rest comes from Thailand, Vietnam and

Indonesia.

 

For the first nine months this year, Hong Kong imported some 17,000

snakes, while last year some 60,000 snakes were imported, according

to figures from Agriculture and Fisheries Department.

 

Though there are no estimates of total losses available, Mak San of

the century-old Shea Wong Lam (Snake King Lam), Hong Kong's oldest

snake shop, said " business has not picked up since the economy in

Hong Kong turned bad six years ago, and with the SARS, it has

worsened. "

 

" Now, we're running out of supply because of the ban on the

mainland, " said Mak.

 

" Eating snakes is a tradition that goes back thousands of years, and

the tradition still goes on despite SARS. "

 

Kan Oi-ho, who runs the 70-year-old Shea Wong Yuen (Snake King Yuen)

in the Mongkok area, described the SARS fears and ban as " one

disaster after another " .

 

" We can't wait any longer for the mainland to lift the ban as there

are rents and wages to pay, " he said.

 

Kan called the ban a " misunderstanding " , saying that SARS was being

used as an excuse by China, which was trying to protect endangered

snake species from extinction following excessive trading as Chinese

medicine or exotic cuisine.

 

He said traders in Hong Kong hoped Beijing would at least lift the

ban on snakes grown on farms, rather than those caught in the wild.

 

" We use very few snakes in Hong Kong, compared with the mainland, " Kan added.

 

According to the China Wildlife Conservation Association,

mainlanders consume more than 10,000 tons of snakes every year.

 

Snake trader Chow Ka-ling, who runs a snake shop in Sham Shui Po,

said the Hong Kong dealers had asked China to double-check that

snakes could carry the SARS coronavirus.

 

" We simply asked authorities to verify again, " he said.

 

But despite the SARS scare, snakes are still a sought-after form of

nutrition during the winter in Hong Kong.

 

" It smells and tastes good, " said Kwong Han-yuk, a 35-year-old

construction worker savouring a bowl of steaming soup filled with

shredded snake meat mixed with pieces of chicken meat and mushrooms

at a snake shop in Wanchai.

 

" It is good for the body, " Kwong said, giving the soup a thumbs-up.

 

" I have eaten it every year and nothing is wrong with me, " he said,

brushing aside the possibility that snake meat could carry SARS.

 

Many believe that snake meat has medicinal properties, including

curing rheumatism, preventing excessive sweating during the night,

increasing blood circulation and keeping the body warm.

 

Others believe drinking rice wine flavoured with snake blood or gall

bladder can strengthen the body against rheumatism.

 

But perhaps one of the main reasons for the popularity of eating

snakes is the belief that their meat is an aphrodisiac.

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