The China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA) initiated a campaign January 20, calling for the elimination of the "bad habit" of putting wild animals on the dinner table to boost the on-going crackdown on illegal poaching and trade of wild animals.

According to a recent nationwide survey conducted by the CWCA, 80 percent of the wild animals that are illegal hunted and traded end up as dinner, and nearly half of the 23,000 people questioned said had, on at least one occasion, eaten wild animal dishes.

The survey, which involved 21 major cities across China from September to December 1999, found that wild animals were traded in 91 of the 218 markets surveyed, and consumed in 688 of the 1,381 restaurants surveyed.

Among the 53 species of wild animals that were illegally traded and consumed, 14 are on China's protected species list, and most of them are hunted in the wild.

The survey also indicates that the popularity consuming wild animals in China is mostly based on the belief that these animals are more nutritious than domestic ones, and therefore good for health.

But experts have a different view. A report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Northeast University of Forestry based inJilin Province, and other research institutions, said that diseases suffered by animals and the toxic elements in their bodies can easily affect the people who eat them, sometimes with fatal consequences.

What's more, many wild animals are poisoned to death by poachers, and the poisons can remain in their bodies for a long period of time, so it is extremely hazardous to consume such animals, the report says.

CWCA Secretary-General Wang Fuxing said that his association will carry out the campaign for a long time, and will hold various activities this year to help change this "bad eating habit."