Chinese give cat food a whole new meaning

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2057131,00.html

 

Chinese give cat food a whole new meaning

From Jane Macartney in Beijing

 

 

 

EVERY day thousands of cats are transported to Guangdong province in

southern China.

They are destined not to become the pampered pets of the country's

new rich, but to be served up at the dinner table.

 

 

 

The trade is one that merchants seem eager to keep out of the public

eye in a country where pet shops have sprung up to meet a growing demand as

incomes rise.

 

While no laws exist to regulate the business, at the Baishazhou

market in Wuhan, central China, two cat traders were startled this week when a

local reporter paused to take photographs.

 

They had collected about 1,000 cats, taken to the city by rural

cat-catchers. The terrified animals were crowded into large wire cages.

 

All were alive, but most were silent, apparently too exhausted and

traumatised to do more than mew faintly. The traders loaded about fifteen cages,

each crammed with cats, into the back of a van for the animals' final journey to

Guangdong. Chinese have for centuries eaten a startling range of creatures.

Southern Chinese particularly relish the taste of wild animals, believing them

to be rich in nutrition.

 

Wild civet, banned since the severe acute respiratory syndrome

(Sars) scare, is believed to boost the immune system. Snakes are reputed to

increase a man's virility, and the smooth-skinned salamander is believed to

clear acne.

 

In the markets of Guangdong, cats cowering in small cages are a

common sight. At the Nanjin poultry market about forty stalls sell cats, which

are divided according to size. The larger the cat, the higher the price. A cat

weighing more than 3kg (7lbs) can fetch 70p a kilo, while smaller animals cost

about 40p a kilo. A local newspaper quoted one trader as saying that he sold up

to 300kg (660lb) of cat meat a day.

 

He said: " Today I've sold 200 cats. Tonight another 100 will arrive.

No matter how many you need, I can satisfy demand. " Catching cats offers an

alternative source of income for farmers in China's poorer central provinces who

sell them for up to 40p each.

 

One Guangzhou restaurant offers a braised cat meat dish for £3, but

charges £12 for cat stewed with snake and chicken.

 

The owner said: " The cats are domestic cats and are clean and cheap.

In winter we have more customers than in summer. Only local people eat cat, not

people from other provinces. "

 

The Guangzhou City Food and health quarantine office said that there

were no regulations regarding cat meat.