WHEN Han Jiali’s beloved cat Dabai was taken from her Shanghai home final 12 months, she launched into a hunt for her pet that took her deep into the bowels of China’s underground feline meat commerce.
Most individuals in China don’t eat cat meat, however an estimated 4 million furry buddies are slaughtered for meals annually in an unlawful market that features areas of Guangdong province, neighbouring Guangxi and past, based on Humane Society International.
Han, who has spent 1000’s of {dollars} and weeks at a time monitoring cat meat merchants by China, has uncovered a provide chain preying on city strays and out of doors pets within the area surrounding Shanghai.
Her quest to seek out Dabai led her to dirty processing vegetation in Guangdong, the place she noticed skinned cat carcasses piled in crates and sacks of fur.
She discovered village eating places that brazenly marketed cat meat and unscrupulous sellers who handed it off as mutton or rabbit.
“I had to admit then that my cat was gone,” mentioned an emotional Han.
“She had been eaten.”
Now she is decided to save lots of different cats from the identical destiny and has spent the previous 12 months submitting police stories, monitoring down thieves and sending petitions to the Guangdong authorities.
It’s a harmful mission that she says has resulted in loss of life threats from cat meat merchants and an incident in December the place a person intentionally drove into her automobile at a freeway relaxation cease.
“I’ve gotten scared and thought about turning away and pretending I never saw all this,” she mentioned.
“But if I disappear, and stay silent, who will save (the cats) from this miserable situation?”
The 33-year-old Han is one in all a small however devoted variety of individuals in China combating the abuse of pet cats and dogs within the absence of broader institutional protections for home animals.
The seize of a free-roaming household pet open air isn’t thought-about theft in China.
And whereas the regulation prohibits the consumption of cats, violators are fined on meals security grounds slightly than punished for animal cruelty.
Activists and even state media commentators have more and more referred to as for legislators to undertake an animal cruelty regulation to shut a loophole not coated by present wild animal and livestock guidelines.
“I’m just an ordinary person, my abilities are limited,” Han mentioned.
Last month, she and different animal rescuers, with the assistance of native police, intercepted a truck carrying a whole bunch of cats out of Zhangjiagang, close to Shanghai.
“They were collecting (trapped) cats inside a cemetery,” she mentioned.
These empty bamboo cages have been utilized by cat sellers for transporting cats close to Shanghai. — AFP
“Observing them, we quickly learned that they planned to illegally sell the captured kitties.”
Han mentioned she and the opposite activists spent a sleepless evening staking out the cemetery earlier than a truck appeared within the morning to remove dozens of tiny bamboo crates filled with round 800 cats.
Police and the animal rescuers stopped the truck, and the cats have been rushed to a shelter within the city of Taicang, an hour away from Shanghai.
There the animals have been taken in by Mengtaiqi Cat and Dog Manor, a small family-run shelter in a marshy space common with anglers.
Gu Ming, a 45-year-old former pharmaceutical business skilled who lives on the shelter together with his spouse, mentioned that most of the cats rescued in Zhangjiagang had their limbs crushed beneath the burden of a whole bunch of animals.
Dozens have died so removed from accidents and viral infections that unfold quickly among the many intently packed, distressed animals, he mentioned.
Volunteers on the shelter remoted sick animals in makeshift quarantine cages and referred to as in vets to vaccinate and sterilise the more healthy cats.
Eventually, after weeks of therapy and isolation, a primary batch of rescues was moved to a big out of doors enclosure with bushes and rows of blanket-lined beds.
Gu covers the shelter’s bills out of his personal pocket and solely accepts non-cash donations equivalent to tools and kibble, looking for to keep away from the general public mistrust that fundraisers usually appeal to in China.
He plans to maneuver all of the cats onto a small island close to a neighborhood temple, which is at the moment dotted with tiny huts and home to a couple dozen felines beforehand rescued by the shelter.
The island’s four-legged residents flocked to greet Gu as he crossed the gated bridge that retains the cats in.
At noon, the animals lolled on the grass and napped beneath bushes – an idyllic existence that may be a far cry from the cramped meat truck crates.
Gu mentioned he was moved by the numerous animal lovers who had provided assist after seeing state media stories in regards to the Zhangjiagang cats.
But nonetheless, he mentioned: “We have to push for national legislation, because depending on individuals or a few groups is not realistic”. — AFP
