Fwd: [AnimalsInNeed] FW: (CN) The cat meat trade in China

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Karen Loveless <kloveless wrote:

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Mon, 12 Mar 2001 21:43:23 -0500

[AnimalsInNeed] FW: (CN) The cat meat trade in China

 

 

 

 

Dr John Wedderburn [john]

Monday, March 12, 2001 8:21 PM

AAPN List

(CN) The cat meat trade in China

 

by IAN GALLAGHER, Mail on Sunday

femail.co.uk - 13th March 2001

 

The honey-coloured cat gasped for air, its face squashed against the wire

mesh

of the cage. After several minutes it managed to jerk its head away,

only to sink back and be lost among the tightly packed mass of fur

formed by bodies of other cats piled on top of one another.

 

This pitiful spectacle is repeated time and time again at a market in

southern

China where hundreds of cats - just like our own domestic pets -

languish before being killed and eaten.

 

In China, cats are reared for one reason: to be devoured at restaurants by

customers who pride themselves on their exotic tastes.

 

In some cases, the wretched creatures spend up to two months squeezed 25 at

a

time inside cages which measure just 2ft by 3ft. Many die before they

reach their final destination.

 

Such cruelty - inconceivable in the West - is becoming increasingly

commonplace in China. To many people here, keeping cats as cherished

pets is an act of folly.

 

We saw the appalling scenes at Guangzhou - the capital of the south-eastern

province of Guangdong and one of China's most affluent cities. At the Xin

Yuan

market just outside the city, the traders are unmoved by the animals'

obvious

distress and do the minimum necessary to keep them alive.

 

Their only concern is that the cats might die while in their hands,

because that will cost them money. The Mail on Sunday found hundreds

of cats on display, all crammed inside cages stacked, in some cases, 12ft

high.

 

One trader, Yanwu Peng, eagerly proferred his business card stating:

'Supplier of cats to fine restaurants and hotels.'

 

He sat on a plastic chair, his feet resting on one of the cages

containing around 30 cats. If in the past they had tried to struggle, they

were now submissive. There was an occasional, barely perceptible, flicker of

movement - the only indication that any of them were still alive.

 

Beside Mr Peng lay a green gauze bag through which three more cats could be

seen. They had been set aside, he explained, for one of his regular

customers, a restaurant owner. If he is fortunate, Mr Peng will sell the

caged cats within a few days, although he boasts that he can keep them

alive for 'a month, maybe two' if necessary.

 

He sells the cats to restaurant owners for about £1 per pound, less if they

are

bought in bulk. They are fed once a day on a mixture of rice and animal

feed.

 

Yesterday, the prospect of food didn't - as might be expected -

prompt an excited response.

 

Because of their weakened state Mr Peng had to push the cats towards

the bowls and in doing so he discovered that one was dead. He picked

it up by its tail, wrapped it in a carrier bag and discarded it at

the back of his stall.

 

One of the few Westerners who have visited the market is Jill

Robinson, director of the charity Animals Asia Foundation. She said:

'It is a sea of cruelty. The smell lingered on my clothes afterwards

and the sights I witnessed stayed in my mind for days. I was in a

state of shock.

 

'The cats were piled on top of each other in a horrifying way. They

were defecating and urinating on each other. It was so miserable. I

have never seen so many animals in one place at once.'

 

The cats come from the countryside and are raised by villagers as a cheap

and

easy way of making extra money. They keep them indoors with long pieces of

nylon string tied around their necks.

 

Because eating kittens is considered bad luck, they wait until the

cats are more

than 12 months old before selling them either directly to the markets or to

'middlemen' such as Yei Kung who owns the Wildlife Farm Shop just outside

the

town of Nanhai near Guangzhou.

 

Mr Kung, who buys a ton of cat meat a week, tours the villages in a van and

collects the animals in wooden crates before piling them into a huge

cage in his

shed.

 

He said: 'My farm shop acts as a halfway house. They stay here for

just a few days before I sell them to the markets.' His biggest

problem is getting the cats to the markets alive - around 10 per cent

are lost along the way.

 

'It is essential that the cats are moved from the farm as soon as possible,'

he

said. 'They are never in my shop for more than a few days. As soon as

they begin

their journey they lose weight and many die. To make money I must keep them

alive.'

 

Even after the cats are bought at market - usually taken away in mesh nets

and

plastic bags - they are often forced to endure several days' more

agony at the Da Long Shu Cat Restaurant. The cats are stored in a

cupboard, jokingly referred to by the staff as the 'waiting room'.

Sometimes they remain there for days.

 

Every evening they are moved to cages outside the restaurant and customers

are

invited to select the one that takes their fancy. The chef then kills

the cat of their choice by cutting its throat.

 

One restaurant owner in Guangzhou said: 'Cat meat is very often the least

expensive dish. Our customers want something special so that's why dishes

like

cats' eyes and testicles are the most expensive. Basically we eat all

of the cat.

Another popular dish is stir-fried cats' paws with garlic.'

 

Animals Asia Foundation believe renewed interest in eating cat is linked to

the

upturn in the economic fortunes of Guangdong, the most prosperous province

in

China.

 

'People have more money in their pockets now, so for many these so-called

delicacies have become affordable,' said Robinson. 'Eating cat is probably

more

popular in the south-east than anywhere else but increasingly we are

finding that it is on the menu all over China.'

 

Thanks to her charity, the authorities are being pressed to introduce animal

welfare legislation to combat the trade. 'A few years ago,' she said,

'animal

welfare was a term that no one had heard of here. But gradually people are

becoming more receptive.

 

'It will be a slow process but we hope that things will change in the

future. People have got to learn that cats are companionable animals

and have a far greater role in society than being simply food.'

 

 

 

Find this story at:

http://www.femail.co.uk/pages/standard/article.html?in_article_id=29575 & in_p

age_id=1

& copy2001 Associated New Media