MSNBC 12/18/08 China protesters: Stop 'cooking cats alive' Fury after newspaper says 10,000 felines are eaten daily in single province

[Guest guest]

A woman holding a picture of a trapped cat cries

during a protest in Beijing on Thursday.

 

China protesters: Stop 'cooking cats alive'

Fury after newspaper says 10,000 felines are eaten daily in single province

The Associated Press

updated 4:52 a.m. PT, Thurs., Dec. 18, 2008

BEIJING - A southern Chinese province must stop

the " shameful " and " cruel slaughter " of cats for

food, a group of more than 40 animal lovers in

Beijing said Thursday as they unfurled banners in

a tearful protest.

 

Thousands of cats across the country have been

caught in the past week by traders and

transported to Guangdong province to be killed

for food, said the protesters gathered at the

Guangdong government's office in Beijing.

 

" We are very angry because the cats are being

skinned and then cooked alive. We must make them

correct this uncivilized behavior, " said Wang

Hongyao, who represented the group in submitting

a letter to the Guangdong office.

 

The protesters urged the provincial government to

crack down on cat traders and restaurants that

serve cat meat, although no law says it is

illegal to eat cats. It has long been common for

cats and dogs to be eaten in some parts of China

and in some other Asian countries.

The demonstrators held up banners saying " Cooking

cats alive! Shame on Guangdong! " and " Resolutely

oppose cruel slaughter " as they met with a

representative of the Guangdong office.

 

Calls to the Guangdong provincial office in

Beijing rang unanswered, while the government

news office in the province refused to comment.

 

Bamboo crates and metal cages

The protest was apparently in response to Chinese

media reports in recent days that carried

pictures of furry felines peering out through

bamboo crates and metal cages, apparently en

route to Guangzhou, Guangdong's capital. Other

pictures show cats being skinned in restaurant

kitchens.

 

About 5,000 cats were sent from Nanjing to

Guangzhou, while cats from Shanghai, Hangzhou and

other places were also being rounded up, the

Chengdu Business Daily reported last week. The

paper said people in Guangdong eat 10,000 cats a

day.

 

No reason was given for the increased media

coverage, or if there has been an increase in cat

meat consumption.

 

'Fat ones' nabbed?

Many of the protesters in Beijing were retirees

who said they have been caring for strays cats.

The protesters said they believed that some

street cats in Beijing, " especially the fat

ones, " have disappeared and were likely nabbed by

cat meat dealers.

 

" These cats, they are like our children, " said

Cui Qingzhen, a 56-year-old woman who said she

has been feeding street cats for six years. " We

can't let these people do this to them. "

The demonstrators also noted that a virus that

causes severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS,

is suspected to have been spread to humans by

civet cats, mongoose-like animals considered a

delicacy in southern China.

 

SARS was first reported in Guangdong in November

2002 and killed 774 people worldwide before

subsiding in July 2003. In 2004, Guangdong banned

the raising, selling, killing and eating of civet

cats.

 

" Haven't they learned from SARS that some animals

just shouldn't be eaten by humans? " Cui said.

" Ask the Guangdong people: What else must they

eat? "

 

More on: Guangdong | SARS

 

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast,

rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28292558/

 

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