Beijing — Approximately 150 cats destined for slaughterhouses were rescued by police in eastern China, according to an international animal advocacy organization. The animals were found crowded into rusted cages in the eastern city of Jinan in Shandong province, according to a statement released by Humane Society International (HSI) on Tuesday.
An activist with the local animal rights organization VShine stated that a gang used sparrows as bait and a remote control to close the traps as soon as a cat entered.
“It was shocking to see their condition, with many of them emaciated and wailing,” an activist with the last name Huang told HSI in a statement. The finding of dozens of live sparrows used as bait to attract the cats also came as a great surprise.
The majority of the rescued cats are believed to have been home pets, and they have been transported to local animal shelters, according to the statement.
At the scene, activists discovered 31 sparrows, a protected species in China, and released them back into the wild.
In the midst of a coronavirus epidemic, there are calls to close worldwide “wet markets” at 1:48 a.m.
China has no laws against animal cruelty, but the suspects could face penalties for hunting the birds, property theft and for violations of animal epidemic prevention rules.
According to HSI, around 10 million dogs and 4 million cats are murdered for human consumption annually in China.
In some regions of China, dog and cat meat is considered a delicacy, and the profitable trade in their flesh continues to motivate criminal gangs to steal pets, despite a steady drop as pet ownership has increased.
On June 21, 2016, a woman walks by a dog vendor at a market during the annual dog meat festival in Yulin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China. AP/Andy Wong
Every June, the southern Chinese city of Yulin celebrates a dog meat festival when live dogs and cats are offered for consumption.
In the southern Chinese regions of Guangdong and Guangxi, eating dogs and cats stretches back thousands of years.
Dr. Peter Li, an HSI China policy specialist, stated in a statement, “These are China’s two major cat meat-eating hubs.” In the rest of mainland China, cat meat is completely absent from the cuisine.
The COVID-19 epidemic appears to have further lowered the demand for cat and dog meat, as the disease has been linked to a market in Wuhan that sells live animals for consumption.
In 2020, China outlawed the consumption and trafficking of wildlife.
In April of that year, the cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai in the province of Guangdong became the first in China to prohibit the consumption of dogs and cats.