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border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td><font class="subhead"><strong class="head"> China </strong></font> </td> </tr> </table> <br> <table width="392" border="0" align="left" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="392"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><font color="#000000" size="3"><strong>China's newest SARS victim: The civet cat</strong></font><br>By Janice Lam <br><br>HONG KONG - As researchers in China and Hong Kong theorize that the source of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus may be the masked palm civet, a top Chinese delicacy has suddenly become a national scapegoat. Farmers of the civet cat are also suffering from the finding because all palm civets sold at game-food restaurants currently come from farms, not the wild, and there are some 360 civet farms in mainland China. <br><br>Not only that, some in the market are even not the masked palm civets. Wei Ling, a Hong Kong food expert, wrote recently that the pedigree civet cat has a faint flower- or fruitlike fragrance after being cooked. He says purebred civet cats have almost disappeared in the past two decades and those sold nowadays are hybrids. Moreover, those appearing in Hong Kong markets are actually a species of rabbit imported from Australia. Despite their name, civet cats are not felines but members of the family Viverridae. <br><br>The Longping Agricultural High-tech Park in Hunan province says that since wild civet cats are becoming extinct, farming of the cats has a prosperous future. According to the park's information, investing 4,300 yuan (US$520) for purchasing breeding cats and cages to farm a group of the cats - one male and three females - can bring an annual revenue of about 13,400 yuan, for a net profit before tax of 11,200 yuan after deducting the cost of feed and salaries. <br><br>In the markets of Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong province, where game food is in high demand, the flesh of civet cats is priced at 120-180 yuan per kilogram and one cat weights 2-3.5kg. In addition, the fur is sold at some 70 yuan. Before a ban of the cats was issued earlier this week, the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian were the key markets of the delicacy. Apart from local consumption, Fujian is also a route for smuggling to Taiwan. <br><br>High profitability has attracted many investors. The province of Shanxi in central China has more than 200 civet cat farms, the biggest number nationwide, raising some 100,000 cats. <br><br>Ever since scientists announced that civet cats might be the source of the SARS outbreak, provinces and cities in mainland China have started to seal off civet farms within their regions, creating a big headache for those who hope to earn a living off of the animal. <br><br>Although a study has found that the genetic composition of the animal coronavirus and human SARS virus was 99 percent homologous, some experts are skeptical that the civet cat is the source of the potentially fatal virus that is spreading around the world. Han Bing, director of China National Gene Study Center, said that many wild animals carry SARS-like viruses and it's wrong to conclude that two viruses are same simply on the basis of a 99 percent similarity. When it comes to genes, a one percent difference is quite large. <br><br>Han said that in order to prove that the virus jumps from wildlife to humans, strict scientific techniques are required. <br><br>(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030605224912/mailto:content@atimes.com"><font color="#0000ff">content@atimes.com</font></a> for information on our sales and syndication policies.) <br></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top" width="392"> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td width="105" align="middle" valign="top"> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td height="44" align="middle" valign="center"><font class="time"><strong> May 31, 2003 </strong></font> </td> </tr> </table> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td height="75"><img height="75" src="/web/20030605224912im_/http://atimes.com/images/f_images/1pix.gif" width="1"></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="middle" valign="center"><a href="javascript:atprint();"><img height="26" src="/web/20030605224912im_/http://atimes.com/images/f_images/print.gif" width="91" border="0"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="5" align="middle" valign="center"><img 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href="/web/20030605224912/http://atimes.com/atimes/China/EE31Ad04.html">China vs SARS: A good dog is a dead dog </a></font><br> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> <p> </p> </td> <td width="10" valign="top" background="/web/20030605224912im_/http://atimes.com/images/f_images/line.gif"><img height="1" src="/web/20030605224912im_/http://atimes.com/images/f_images/1pix.gif" width="9"></td> <td width="130" align="left" valign="top"> <table width="117" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030605224912/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/advertise.html"><img height="120" src="/web/20030605224912im_/http://atimes.com/atimes/images/right-way-ad.gif" width="120" border="0"></a></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="5"><img height="5" src="/web/20030605224912im_/http://atimes.com/images/f_images/1pix.gif" width="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20030605224912/http://www.wsicorporate.com/business.asp?id=5292" 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