Police in Zhangjiagang, eastern China, rescued about a thousand cats from a truck. According to local activists, the animals were to be slaughtered and sold as pork or mutton. The pets were transported to the nearby Mengtaqi Cat and Dog Manor animal shelter in Taicang city.
Police officers from the city of Zhangjiagang, alerted by local animal rights activists, stopped a truck carrying about a thousand cats on its way to a slaughterhouse in mid-October. According to the activists’ arrangements, the animals were to be slaughtered and then processed into skewers or sausages marked as pork or mutton. The case was reported by local media. Now it has been described by CNN.
As Gong Jian, one of the local animal activists, explained in an interview with the Chinese “The Paper”, the “procedure” of catching cats on the streets of cities and illegally selling their meat as other animals “continues because it is profitable.”
China. The police seized a thousand cats from a truck heading towards a slaughterhouse
– Cat meat costs less than 9 yuan (approx. PLN 5) per kilogram. Mutton, in turn, costs about 60 yuan (approx. PLN 35) per kilogram. You can get about 2-3 kilograms of meat from one cat. The difference between the actual price of this meat and the price of this meat after marking it as pork or mutton is pure profit for sellers – explained Gong Jian to “The Paper”.
CatShutterstock
The transport of cats was stopped thanks to the involvement of local activists. According to The Paper, on October 6, they noticed a large number of wooden cages with cats trapped inside, stored near the cemetery in Zhangjiagang. Over the next few days, activists closely monitored the area. When they noticed a car transporting animals, they alerted the police.
The cats were taken to the shelter
It is unclear at this time whether any arrests have been made in connection with the case. It is also not known whether the cats seized by the police have their owners or whether they are strays. After the transport was thwarted, the pets were taken to the Mengtaqi Cat and Dog Manor temporary animal shelter in Taicang city. Currently, the facility’s employees are working to find the cats’ owners. Those that are not claimed within 30 days of their acquisition will be included in the shelter’s adoption program.
Animal protection in China
As CNN notes, although Chinese legislation includes provisions regulating the rights of farm animals and endangered species, it lacks general provisions protecting pets or stray dogs and cats from cruelty.
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