Since March 2020, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) has been focusing on the Harbin Daowai bird market for a long time. After the outbreak of COVID-19, on March 28th, CBCGDF volunteers found that the mobile bird market in the Daowai District of Harbin (Heilongjiang Province) had “returned to normal work”. Volunteers kept calling the mayor’s hotline, calling for a reduction in the flow of people to reduce public security risks. However, it has not received enough attention from the local government.

On Saturday, April 4th, the Tomb-Sweeping Day, CBCGDF’s Anti-Poaching Working Group received feedback from volunteers: the people selling wild birds in the bird market of Daowai District (Harbin, Heilongjiang Province) were arrested by law enforcement officers, about 3 - 4 of whom were arrested. The law enforcement authorities have taken action quickly. CBCGDF calls for a complete ban on illegal bird markets.

On April 5th, CBCGDF’s volunteers went to the Daowai bird market to investigate. On that day, Daowai District was very crowded, and many people did not wear masks. Volunteers repeatedly called the mayor’s hotline, but everything was the same. CBCGDF’s volunteers went to the Daowai bird market at 6:00 for investigation and found that there were wild bird traders gathered in Jiangpan Road and reflected the situation to the law enforcement department. Law enforcement officers quickly went to clean up and guard. At around 10:00 that day, volunteers found that Beiwudao street was full of people and many people did not wear masks. The wild bird trade is starting again.

On April 16th, the Health Committee of Heilongjiang Province announced the track of new asymptomatic infected people. Among the 11 new cases of local infection, one of them was asymptomatic. The patient had been to the bird market at Daowai District on April 5th.

From April 19th to 20th, according to the feedback of CBCGDF's volunteers and many major social media platforms, Harbin's bird market was closed. The city's illegal construction has begun to be demolished, and the local people are very happy. According to the management experience of the bird market in the Daowai District of Harbin and the Wanliutang bird market of Shenyang, we should strengthen the urban management and strictly check the market chaos. We hope that the bird market in the Daowai District of Harbin can be fundamentally banned from now on.

Note: on April 18th, 2020, volunteers analyzed the public security risks in the bird market, Daowai District, and transferred it to the relevant departments for feedback.

At present, it is suggested that the government of the Daowai District should improve the awareness of risk prevention and control, identify the high-risk areas within the region, and strive to study effective measures to effectively eliminate the safety risks and hidden dangers within the region.

In the case of the COVID-19 epidemic, there are many problems in Daowai District, such as dirty, disorder, serious person gathering, which are huge public security risks.

From Monday to Friday: in the intersection block, including Sandao street, Wudao street, Changchun Street, Qiantang street, and other areas, there are many roadside stalls, which are extremely overcrowded.

On Saturday and Sunday, the illegal bird market gathered a lot of people selling birds in Harbin and even in Heilongjiang Province, resulting in a lot of crowded streets and serious road occupation, causing a public security risk. These situations need to be dealt with urgently.

In addition, the morning market and night market are also the key areas of population gathering in Daowai District.

In case of fire in these areas, it will be very difficult for fire trucks to enter, and these areas are also the key areas for epidemic prevention and control.

Solution suggestions:

1. Arrange legal business owners to operate indoors.

2. Once the mobile bird market is exposed, there will be no parasitic space.

It is hoped that the government of the Daowai District will continue to carry out strict comprehensive management and solve the long-term potential problems of public security in the region as soon as possible.

(Photo credit: CBCGDF volunteer)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/12214.html

By / Xue Tongtong Modified / Maggie