A 40-year-old man was on Thursday imprisoned for 10 weeks after media reports previously revealed his shop in Yau Ma Tei had actually been offering the flesh of cats for food.
The offender Wu Siyuan was earlier founded guilty of offering limited food and utilizing or allowing making use of the cat’s flesh for food.
In Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts the other day, deputy magistrate Charles Kwok Hong-lun declined the defense stating Wu was just “assisting” in his dad’s business and didn’t play a leading function, as Kwok described a report that said Wu worked from 7.30 am to 10.30 pm almost every day.
Kwok explained that there were 7 refrigerators in Wu’s shop including 1.25 kg of cat flesh, 10 kg of mutton, 50 kg of chicken, 5 kg of pork, and 30 kg of other frozen poultry.
Nonetheless, Wu might just send one billing for the frozen chicken, raising Kwok’s suspicion on the origin of other frozen meat kept in the shop.
Kwok likewise kept in mind that the 1.25 kg of cat flesh in the shop most absolutely had more than one cat killed. The judge likewise thought the cat flesh was imported unlawfully for business functions.
Although there were couple of comparable cases in Hong Kong, Kwok worried that the sentencing needs to bring a deterrent impact. He then began the prison term at 18 weeks and decreased it to 10 weeks for the 2 charges.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department invited the court’s judgment, stating jail time has a substantial deterrent impact and shows the gravity of the offense.
“It is an offense to eat, sell or possess dog or cat flesh for food. The AFCD will certainly take stringent enforcement action should such incidents be discovered,” a representative said.
According to the Dogs and Cats Regulations, anybody consuming, selling, or having dog or cat flesh for food might deal with an optimum fine of HK$5,000 and 6 months jail time upon conviction.
