China cat-lovers save felines from dinner tables
Posted: 10 July 2007 1354 hrs
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SHANGHAI - A network of Shanghai cat-lovers organised via the
Internet has intervened to save 800 felines being transported to a
southern Chinese province to be sold as food, state media reported
Tuesday.
The cats were loaded in a truck that was about to depart the
eastern Chinese city on Friday, destined for dinner tables in
Guangdong province, the China Daily newspaper said.
But a well-known local cat-lover informed police, prompting a
standoff, the report said.
Other animal rights enthusiasts who got wind of the situation via
cat-related websites then arrived on the scene, pooling their money
to buy the animals after local police refused to confiscate them,
it said.
Cats are commonly eaten in Guangdong Province, where their meat
sells for around 15 yuan (two dollars) per kilogramme (2.2 pounds),
the report said.
"Many people are involved in this business. A teenager once told me
he could make 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per month doing this," it
quoted Huo Puyang, a
Shanghai woman known for rescuing cats, as saying.
Her daughter-in-law, Duo Zirong, another cat rescuer, told the
paper three other trucks packed with cats managed to set out before
police took any action.
The truck drivers produced documents showing the cats were raised
on a commercial farm in nearby Anhui province.
The animals, many of which were in poor health, have been taken in
by the cat enthusiasts. Eventually, pictures of many of them will
be posted online for adoption. - AFP/ra
