Shanghai cat rescue is biggest yet in China

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2007:

 

 

Shanghai cat rescue is biggest yet in China

 

SHANGHAI--Rallied by Duo Zirong, 39,

" cat lovers in suburban Shanghai's Xinzhuang area

stopped a truck carrying more than 800 cats to

diners in Guangdong Province, " reported Zhang

Kun of China Daily on July 10, 2007. The rescue

was at least the third by opponents of cat-eating

since June 2006, when activists stormed and

closed the newly opened Fang Company Cat Meatball

Restaurant in Shenzhen, winning a promise from

the owner that he would no longer sell cat meat.

" Duo called the police and stopped one

truck, " Zhang wrote. " According to Duo, three

trucks loaded with cats left before the police

took action. Duo claimed many of the cats were

hers, but the cat dealers presented documents

showing they were from a farm in Anhui Province,

with inspection and vaccination papers. "

" We felt helpless, as China does not

have a law against animal abuse, " Shanghai

Animal Protection Association representative Tao

Rongfang told Lu Feiran of Shanghai Daily.

The truckers demanded 30,000 yuan for the

cats, worth nearly $4,000 U.S. A crowd

gathered, passed the hat, and eventually bought

the cats for about $1,300, of which one

unidentified woman put up half.

Recalled Zhang Kun, " Earlier this year,

a truck packed with cats was stopped in Suzhou,

where two crates of cats were rescued. A train

car was found to be loaded with live cats in the

Shanghai South Railway Station, but left despite

protests from local animal protectors. "

" In June, " Zhang Kun wrote, " some

volunteers working with the cats in Duo's house

opened the gate to let out nearly 200 cats. Duo

spotted the truck while searching for the cats. "

Shanghai Daily appealed for cat adopters

and donors to help accommodate the rescued cats.

" Anyone brave enough to venture into

Duo's house would call it a nightmare, " Shanghai

Daily reported. " In addition to healthy cats,

there are sick, lame, blind and paralyzed cats

and kittens. Some are in heat. Animals are

crammed into the dim, dilapidated two-story

house, with wire mesh on the windows. Sheets

are laundered daily but get filthy; the stench

is unbearable. Duo is up to her neck cleaning,

washing sheets, feeding milk to sick kittens,

spraying room deodorizer, bathing the cats and

saying sorry to neighbors for the trouble her

cats cause. Her cats can sleep until their

natural wake-up time and eat balanced, healthy

pet food, while Duo gets only three to four

hours sleep each night and eats instant noodles. "

A former medical doctor, Duo is a

Buddhist member of the Daur-speaking ethnic

minority. Fewer than 140,000 Daur speakers

remain in China, Mongolia, and parts of Russia.

Her entire family are involved in cat rescue.

They have moved " about a dozen times " due to

friction with neighbors over cat odors and noises

since Duo began taking in cats circa 1996, Lu

Feiran wrote.

Her first cat was tortured and blinded by

juvenile delinquents. That was a foreshadowing

of the fate of her mother-in-law, Huo Huiying,

a retired civil engineer.

" In July 2004, not long after Duo and

her cats moved to Datong Village, Fengxian

District, " Shanghai Daily recounted, " Huo

Huiying was beaten blind in a fight with

neighbors who demanded money from Duo if she

wanted to keep her cats alive. For Duo and her

family, the next three years were a time of

terror, extortion, death threats, threats to

poison and kill the cats, and many fights and

sieges by neighbors and urban management

inspectors. There were power and water cut-offs, "

and more than 30 cats were killed by the would-be

extortionists. "

Sympathetic coverage of Duo's efforts by

a variety of media was soon followed by explicit

exposés in Shanghai Daily, the New Express, and

syndicated coverage from the Xinhua news agency

of how cats are tortured and boiled alive in

Guangzhau restaurants. Furious reader response

encouraged Shanghai Daily columnist Wang Yong to

denounce the treatment of farm animals and fish.

While the rapid growth of dog-keeping in

China has received official notice and

increasingly friendly media coverage for nearly

10 years, the parallel rise in popularity of

cat-keeping has only recently gained recognition,

driven by the emergence of a well-developed

network of web sites, online forums, and

university-based cat clubs.

Beijing, one of the few Chinese cities

with a western-style animal control department

and dog shelters, is planning to add cat

facilities, China Daily reported in April 2007.

Subsidized clinics are to sterilize and vaccinate

cats at half price, China Daily said. Beijing

has as many as 400,000 feral cats, according to

the Small Animal Protection Association.

The report closely followed a mention

that " A pet hospital in Qingdao in eastern

Shandong Province is now providing a free

sterilization program for stray cats. "

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

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Fax: 360-579-2575

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Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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