Shenzhen, a city in Southeastern China, has banned the consumption of cats and dogs, making it the first city in the country.

The announcement was made by the government of Shenzhen on Thursday this week.

The new rules will reportedly come into effect on May 1, 2020.

The government of the city said it will be illegal to eat animals that are raised as pets, hence cats, dogs, and other wild animals.

In February this year, China passed a law that would place a ban on the consumption of wild animals.

Shenzhen, the first city to ban the consumption of animals that are raised as pets, will be prohibiting the consumption of state-protected wild animals.

Not only that, terrestrial wild animals that are taken from the wild, wild species, and captive-bred animals are not allowed to be consumed.

In addition, the government said eating cats and dogs are to be banned by May 1, 2020.

The only animals that can be consumed are:

• Pig
• Cattle
• Sheep
• Donkey
• Rabbit
• Chicken
• Duck
• Goose
• Pigeon
• Quail
• Some Aquatic Animals

While announcing the ban, the authorities said: “If convicted, they will be subjected to a fine of 30 times of the wild animal’s value, if the animal is above the value of 10,000CNY [$1400 USD].”

The ban comes after the coronavirus pandemic, which reportedly originated from the Wuhan Wet Market, where wild animals such as turtles, pangolins, dogs, cats, bats, rabbits, and other animals were being sold.

As of writing this article, there have been 1,202,543 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the entire world.

The virus has caused 64,732 deaths and is rapidly spreading.