Six districts in Nanjing banned people from engaging in live poultry transactions 3 years ago, yet a steady flow of live poultry venders continue to appear around the city, enraging local residents.
Citizens and law makers demanded it be taken off the streets, yet venders continue to appear slaughtering live chickens in broad daylight, and in very public spaces.
With Nanjing’s temperature still at a high level as we near the end of summer, the stench of a freshly slaughtered chickens wafting up city alleyways is enough to put one off lunch.
However, aside from the odour the most important factor in all of this is the health implication that results from the unauthorised slaughtering of animals on public streets.
Avian influenza is but one example of Infectious diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, so-called zoonoses. The South China Morning Post has reported that at the height of the bird flu outbreak last year in Guangzhou, “The Guangzhou Centre for Disease Control and Prevention found in its latest weekly sample assessment that more than 30 percent of local live poultry markets were contaminated with the H7N9 avian flu virus”.
Local news reporters from the Yangtze Evening News spoke to residents of the Longfeng Rose Garden Community on Fenghuang Jie in downtown Gulou District.
“Mobile chicken hawkers appeared in the last half of the year. Every morning, the stall owner will kill the chicken, scald it, and the screams of the chicken being slaughtered are endless”, said one resident, a Mr. Zhao.
Speaking with Director Chen who is in charge of the Urban Management of the street, he said, “It is very difficult for us to be on the scene 24 hours a day. There are always times when we are not there”.
With more action and pressure from local communities on law enforcement to help curb the problem, it may just be possible that Nanjing can see an end to live poultry slaughter once and for all.
