Rats are back on the menu in southern China after traders capitalized on an outbreak of the rodents in neighboring Hunan Province, according to various state press reports.
According to a July 14 report in the Information Times from Guangzhou, trucks full of rats were seen arriving late at night and being sold to a wild animal market in the city district of Baiyun.
During the SARS epidemic, which began in southern China in 2003, authorities banned the sale of many wild animals including rats amid fear that the deadly disease could be contracted from contaminated meat.
PHOTO: AP
Although the scientific community is not in agreement over whether certain animals can spread the disease, vendors in China are no longer allowed to sell wild animals.
Officials in Hunan - where floods have sparked a plague of two billion rats after water submerged their holes - denied the newspaper's undercover report.
One official quoted by the Beijing Times on July 15 dismissed the report, saying it was far too difficult to catch rats alive, while their relatively small size meant there was little meat on the bone.
But rats can make people's mouths water in southern China, and some believe that their flesh is more nutritious than pork or chicken.
A rat was fetching between 40 to 50 yuan (NT$174 to NT$217), and reports said they could be found in Guangdong's cities of Fanyu, Zhaoqing, Dongguan and Nanhai.
Earlier this year China's media also reported that civet cats were routinely finding their way back onto Guangdong dinner tables.
中國各家國營報導指出,商人利用湖南省爆發鼠患的機會,使得田鼠又出現在華南地區的菜單上。
廣州市《信息時報》七月十四日的報導,有人目睹滿載田鼠的卡車於深夜抵達,將田鼠賣到白雲區的野生動物市場。
二○○三年華南地區爆發SARS疫情時,政府官員擔心受污染的肉類會散播致命的疾病,因此禁止販賣包括田鼠等多種野生動物。
雖然科學界對哪些動物會散播疾病還沒有共識,中國小販都不准再販賣野生動物了。
湖南省因洪水淹沒鼠穴,引爆了二十億隻田鼠的鼠患,該省的官員們卻否認了上述報紙報導。
《京華時報》七月十五日引述一位官員駁斥上述報導的說法,說要活捉田鼠非常困難,而且牠們體形小,骨頭上沒什麼肉。
但田鼠還是令華南地區的居民口水直流,有人認為牠們比豬肉或雞肉更營養。
一隻田鼠要價四十至五十人民幣(合台幣一百七十四至兩百一十七元),報導說廣東省的番禺、肇慶、東莞、南海等城市都找得到。
今年稍早,中國媒體還報導麝香貓也常重回廣東居民的晚餐。
(法新社/翻譯︰張愛弟)
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