 A Hong Kong Snake Shop
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Nov. 3, 2003 — 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.
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The ban was introduced after Chinese researchers said the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus found in three types of game animals — civet cats, raccoon dogs and badgers — could also be carried by snakes and bats.
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.
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.
"Eating snakes is a tradition that goes back thousands of years, and the tradition still goes on despite SARS," said Mak.
Kan Oi-ho, who runs the 70-year-old Shea Wong Yuen (Snake King Yuen) in the MongKok area, called the ban a "misunderstanding."
Kan said that SARS was being used as an excuse by China to try and protect endangered snake species from extinction following excessive trading as traditional 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.
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 have asked China to double-check that snakes could carry the SARS coronavirus.
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 flavored with snake blood or gall bladder can strengthen the body against rheumatism.
But perhaps one of the main reasons for snakes' popularity is the belief that their meat is an aphrodisiac.
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