(CN) Tortured cats won't make you more virile

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Opinion

Shanghai Daily columnists

Newspaper Edition

 

Tortured cats won't make you more virile

By Wang Yong

2007-7-25

 

THERE's more than one way to skin a cat, but for most people, the Cantonese way

is beyond comprehension.

 

In Guangzhou, screeching cats are bashed on the head and plunged into boiling

water (still alive and yowling), but they finally expire with a whimper, using

up their ninth life just to satisfy the demand for ultimate freshness of finicky

Cantonese " gourmets. "

 

The more cats are tortured, the fresher the taste of the meat, some of the

Cantonese are said to believe.

 

And cat meat, they say, is great for virility. Business is very brisk.

 

This is all according to an investigative report by New Express, republished

yesterday by Xinhua news agency.

 

Ji Xuguang, the New Express reporter who went to several cat fairs and

restaurants for his secret investigation, said he witnessed cats wailing

desperately when they were smashed by iron rods and then thrown into boiling

water.

 

On Sunday, Ji went to a restaurant tucked away down a shabby alley in Guangzhou.

 

The chef used a specially made iron clip to clasp a fat cat by its throat,

smashed it to the ground, and hit its head with an iron rod.

 

Then it was thrown into a pot of boiling water.

 

Dumbfounded by the cruelty, Ji left the restaurant and talked to residents

nearby.

 

Someone told him that the restaurant's business had been very good, especially

in winter, when long lines of customers were commonplace.

 

Ji said many Cantonese believe that eating cat flesh enhances men's sexual

potency and the balance of yin and yang.

 

I believe that most Chinese people abhor such cruel killing of cats.

 

Most people simply don't understand why someone would eat cats, dogs, monkeys,

even snakes.

 

There are many ways to enhance one's sexual ability. Spare the cats.

 

Having said that, I am profoundly dismayed by human nature.

 

Fundamentally speaking, human beings are the cruelest animals in the world.

 

Yes, we love cats and are terrified at their cruel death. But haven't we

tolerated the cruel deaths of chickens, birds, fish and snakes?

 

Does anyone ever bother to cry over the struggling fish when a chef peels its

scales while it's alive?

 

Does anyone feel bad when he or she steps over an ant and cruelly terminates its

life?

 

Yes, people who eat cats are horrible, but how about all of us - from every

corner of the world - who eat fish and pork and chicken?

 

Mankind tends to sympathize with those lives who are closest and dearest to

them. We cry over the death of cats and dogs, but we enjoy salmon and tuna,

giving no thought to how the fish had been sliced alive.

 

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2007/200707/20070725/article_324601.htm