zlacker

Because the intermediate animal is likely animal farming, and they don't want to take the economic and political hit of shutting down an entire industry. We don't have the will to do that either, we still haven't shut down our mink farms.

And just for domestic propaganda reasons. If it came from China they could be blamed for it, and they want to deny/deny/deny and defect blame. Serves their propaganda purposes to have people believe it was imported and generates an us-vs-them bunker narrative where the rest of the world is unfairly blaming them. That leaves their citizens questioning the rest of the world and not their own government.

>>lamont+(OP)
Shutting down wildlife farms and consumption was actually one of the first actions taken, this was widely reported last year: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/15/9775278...

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/28/8839000...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/07/world/asia/china-coronavi...

etc.

>>wonnag+Jp
And mink farms were also culled in Denmark. Though I can't find any news about whether or not they resumed farming.

>>wonnag+Jp
Those wildlife farms were linked to the Huanan Seafood Market which we pretty much at this point know were not the source. That was not ground zero. It is more likely that larger and more economically important fur farming or agriculturally significant animals were responsible. The articles you link to all talk about shutting down exotics (which confines the economic and political damage for China).