Commodified Wildness and Multi-Species Precarity in China’s Amphibian and Reptile Economies

China’s post-COVID-19 exemption of economically significant amphibians and reptiles – herps – used for food from the wildlife consumption ban has created a critical governance juncture, as market demand for these species’ associated “wildness” persists. This article asks how herp meatways navigate the ambiguous regulatory split between conservation and production agencies to realise this “wild” value. Drawing on qualitative research conducted across seven provincial-level administrative regions in China between 2023 and 2024, this paper examines three case studies: the Northeastern “forest frog,” the Chinese softshell turtle, and the Chinese giant salamander. It demonstrates that, under regulatory uncertainties, food system actors render “wildness” as animal capital through specific husbandry practices and staged market encounters. A core dynamic emerges in this process: industrial farming’s inability to fully control these species is precisely what markets monetise as “authentic” wildness. This friction generates multi-species precarity, where economic stress, compromised animal welfare, and ecological damage amplify one another. These findings recast a long-standing debate over whether farming substitutes for wild capture in China: under bifurcated governance, the two are mutually reinforcing, entangling human livelihoods, animal welfare, and ecosystem health in a shared, escalating crisis.