EARLIER this month, the authorities in China have busted an illegal syndicate slaughtering cats and selling their meat as pork and mutton.
More than a thousand cats were rescued following the crackdown.
According to a report by The Paper, an animal-focused project shareholder Gong Jian revealed that the cat meat in the market is sold at 4.5 yuan (RM2.93) per pound, in contrast to other pricier meats such as mutton amounting to 30 yuan (RM19.59) per pound.
“A cat weighs seven or eight pounds, and after peeling, it is about four or five pounds of meat. It is sold at the price of cat meat, pretending to be mutton and pork. As long as they catch a cat, they make a profit,” Gong said.
Animal activists had scoped out a cemetery in Zhangjiagang used to store the cats for six days, in what the local authorities dubbed as “cat carts”.
Leader of the stakeout, Han Jiali, said that she was familiar with such operations intercepting “cat trucks” storing live cats for slaughter. Prior to this, she helped take down 20 cat trucks illegally transporting live cats in Guangdong.
“Although they are all long like trucks and covered tightly, they are always the same.” When I drove by, I knew it was a cat truck,” Han explained.
She added that she had gained knowledge of the illegal syndicate selling cat meat while looking for her pet cats last year.
The operation, in Han’s words, “went smoothly” as a dealer was distracted with a phone call – enabling the animal activists to successfully intercept the cat truck and finally relocate the poor felines to a safe space.
Another animal activist Gu Min, running an animal sanctuary, said the placement of the thousand over rescued felines were separated into two categories – sick and injured cats and healthy cats – with the sick felines isolated to a different space for treatment while the healthy cats will be sterilised.
After that, notices for owners to collect their missing cats will be announced on “pet lover platforms” while those who were not claimed after a month will be placed under an adoption program.
