Back in barbaric business - the caged cats of China

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Back in barbaric business - the caged cats of China

by TOM SCOTT and RICHARD JONES

Daily Mail

28th March 2007

 

The haunting sound of animal wailing fills the air.

 

Dogs are crammed so tightly together into tiny metal cages they cannot even

bark. Yards away the blood-spattered carcasses of others lie on the ground.

 

This is Three Birds' Market in Guangzhou, China, officially described as a

poultry market.

 

But, as these exclusive pictures show, many traders on the 60-acre site are

doing brisk business selling dogs and cats to restaurants for slaughter and

human consumption.

 

It is replacement for the Xinyuan animal market in the same city, closed down

last year after international outrage over its treatment of animals and a

possible link to the SARS virus.

 

But the brutality has not gone away. The new £33 million market opened at the

end of last year and so far 900 businesses are renting space.

 

Cages of dogs and cats - some of them bred as domestic pets - are piled high and

when an animal is chosen for sale it is bludgeoned with an iron bar until it is

close to death before, being handed over to the purchaser.

 

" The customers want fresh 'live' meat, " said Huang Lu Sheng, one of the

stallholders.

 

" When the dog dies slowly there is much more flavour in the meat. Some customers

want the dog half-dead.

 

" Then the taste is very strong and they can prove to their customers that the

meat is really fresh.

 

" I do not care about the dog suffering. It is only to eat and the customer is

the one that chooses how it should die.

 

" But most customers actually want the dog beaten to death and put in a plastic

bag. It's easier to carry like that. "

 

A teenager we saw holding a hollow metal pole was an expert in " not quite

killing " the animals, we were told.

 

As his colleague held the dog's neck with long metal calipers to prevent them

moving, the young man struck each dog with the pole several times on the skull.

Each swing of the metal bar resulted in a dull thump and a desperate whimper

from the poor animal.

 

The unconscious dogs, with blood dripping from their head wounds and mouths,

were dumped outside the cage. Next they were bound with metal wire and strapped

onto a motorbike or thrown into the back of a lorry.

 

Sheng went on to explain that butchered meat is also sold, with the dogs killed

before being dipped in boiling water to remove their fur.

 

His stall is one of at least 30 at the market that specialise in dogs - although

he would not discuss prices.

 

He sells around 500 a month but, having only been trading for two months, he

expects business to increase as more customers hear about the new market.

 

Even in the absence of any animal rights legislation, Three Birds' owners are

wary of plying their gruesome trade too openly, and advertising for the market

refers only to poultry.

 

At the entrance, there are cages full of ducks, geese, chicken and wildfowl. But

further inside, away from the public, are the stalls trading in cats and dogs.

 

The cats sell for around £1 per kilo wholesale. Weighed by the dozen on large

scales, they end up in restaurants, where they are sold for around £1.65 per

kilo to the public.

 

Restaurant owners and middlemen buy them by the sack-load to use in tiger,

phoenix and dragon soup - a delicacy actually consisting of cat, chicken and

snake.

 

Sadly there were many children in the market witnessing the cruelty.

 

Zhang Xiao Mei, the 12-year-old daughter of a cat and dog stallholder, said: " I

do not want to see this. I hate it when I see my father killing these animals.

 

" I have nightmares about getting chased by dogs that have blood all over their

tongues.

 

Around 10 million dogs are slaughtered for food annually in China where dog meat

is said to increase the positive energy of one's body (the yang) and improve

circulation.

 

Cat meat is also considered to be warming, with the stomach, intestines and

thighs consumed for their perceived benefits and the rest of the animal thrown

away.

 

The Three Birds' Market proves that despite China's bid to clean up its act

before the Beijing Olympics next year, on the issue of animal cruelty it still

has a long way to go.

 

Photos:

 

Cages crammed with cats lie around the new market in Guangzhou, China

 

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/03_02/Cats2DM2903_468x355.jpg

 

Calipers are used to pick the animals out of cages

 

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/03_02/Cats1DM2903_468x602.jpg

 

A cage full of cats waiting to be sold. Their destiny is to end up in tiger,

phoenix and dragon soup - actually consisting of cat, chicken and snake

 

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/03_02/Cats3DM2903_468x307.jpg

 

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