As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world, China has outlawed the hunting and consumption of all terrestrial wild animals. The ban is based on the theory that the virus spread from an animal species – most likely a pangolin or bat – to people in a market in Wuhan. If a wildlife hunting ban were adopted worldwide, millions of people, often Indigenous or rural, who depend on wild meat for their dietary protein, fat and micronutrients, would face the risk of malnutrition.