This story was originally published by the Food and Environment Reporting Network. For the past 40 years, the Chinese government has promoted the wild animal trade as a form of rural economic development. But the industry ground to a halt this winter when it came to light that the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan likely originated in a “wet market”—where throngs of customers shop for live animals held in cramped quarters. When this connection emerged in January, the government ordered a freeze on the sale and consumption of wild animals, which was stiffly enforced—700 people were arrested for violations in the first two weeks of February.