Over 300 cats in Shanghai saved from dinner table
Members of a Chinese animal rights group have rescued over 300 cats, who were due to be served as a delicacy in southern Chinese restaurants, the Shanghai Daily said on Monday.
Volunteers from an animal rights group found the cats in a Shanghai freight yard, where they were being kept in bamboo cages before being sold to restaurants in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. At least three of the animals were dead and many others had broken legs.
"The cats are abused. They throw the cages onto a truck instead of loading them properly," the newspaper quoted a volunteer as saying. "The cats that survive will end up in soups at restaurants."
Yang Baoguo, a dealer involved in the cat trade for more than a decade, said he purchased cats from "hunters" who capture them in residential districts at night. The animals are subsequently sold to restaurants for about 50 yuan ($7) each, well above the price of pork or lamb.
The cat dealer was taken to a police station but released several hours later on the grounds that cats are unprotected animals in China and there is no legislation preventing cats from being eaten.
In addition, cat owners do not require a special license to keep a cat which makes it difficult to prove ownership if an animal is stolen and subsequently virtually impossible to prosecute dealers.
The released cats were returned to their owners or adopted by animal lovers.
A famous Chinese saying states that "Anything that walks, swims, crawls, or flies with its back to heaven is edible." Southern China is the home of the world`s most weird delicacies, including dishes made from snakes, scorpions, dogs and cats. Some southern Chinese dishes, such as a live monkey`s brain are banned due to ethical concerns.
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