AP article: Pet lovers protest cats on the menu in China

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Pet lovers protest cats on the menu in China

By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer

William Foreman, Associated Press Writer -

30 mins ago

 

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AP - A woman holding a picture of a trapped cat

cries as she takes part in a protest, where

animal-loving Š

 

GUANGZHOU, China - While animal lovers in Beijing

protested the killing of cats for food on

Thursday, a butcher in Guangdong province - where

felines are the main ingredient in a famous soup

- just shrugged her shoulders and wielded her

cleaver. " Cats have a strong flavor. Dogs taste

much better, but if you really want cat meat, I

can have it delivered by tomorrow, " said the

butcher, who gave only her surname, Huang.

 

It was just this attitude that outraged about 40

cat lovers who unfurled banners in a tearful

protest outside the Guangdong government office

in Beijing. Many were retirees who care for stray

felines they said were being rounded up by

dealers.

 

" We must make them correct this uncivilized

behavior, " said Wang Hongyao, who represented the

group in submitting a letter urging the

provincial government to crack down on traders

and restaurants, although they were breaking no

laws.

 

The protest was the latest clash between age-old

traditions and the new sensibilities made

possible by China's growing affluence. Pet

ownership was once rare because the Communist

Party condemned it as bourgeois and most people

simply couldn't afford a cat or dog.

 

The protesters' indignation was whipped up by

recent reports in Chinese newspapers about the

cat meat industry. On Monday, the Southern

Metropolis Daily - a Guangdong paper famous for

its exposes and aggressive reporting - ran a

story that said about 1,000 cats were transported

by train to Guangdong each day.

 

The animals came from Nanjing, a major trading

hub for cats, the newspaper said. They were

brought to market by dealers on motorcycles,

crammed into wooden crates and sent to Guangdong

on trains. A photo showed a cat with green eyes

peering from a crowded crate.

 

Some people in Nanjing spend their days " fishing

for cats, " often stealing pets, the report said.

 

One cat owner in Guanghzou said people are afraid

to let their pets leave the house for fear they

will get nabbed.

 

" It's never been this bad. Who knows, it might be

because of the bad economy. I've heard that there

are cat-nabbing syndicates from Hunan that are

rounding up cats, " said the man, who would only

give his surname, Lai, because he feared the cat

business might be run by gangsters.

 

Animal protection groups have occasionally

ambushed truck convoys loaded with bamboo cages

filled with cats bound for Guangdong. In one

recent case, hundreds of cats escaped after their

cages were opened, though hundreds more remained

penned in the vehicle.

 

Lai Xiaoyu, who was involved in the attempted

" rescue, " said authorities couldn't stop the cat

shipment because the traders said the animals

were to be raised as pets.

 

" The police did what they could, but there's

little they can do to stop or punish those

traders from shipping live animals, " Lai said.

 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or

PETA, issued a statement Thursday decrying the

cruel treatment.

 

" China has no animal protection laws, and

throughout the country scores of cats and dogs

are bred or rounded up, crammed onto trucks and

driven for days under hellish conditions to

animal markets, where they are beaten to death,

strangled or boiled alive, " said a spokesman for

the group, Michael V. McGraw.

 

Guangdong is home to the Cantonese people, famous

for being the most adventurous eaters in China.

There's a popular saying: " The Cantonese will eat

anything that flies, except airplanes, and

anything with legs, except a chair. "

 

Zhu Huilian, a nutrition and food safety

professor at Sun Yat-Sen University in

Guangdong's capital, Guangzhou, said people

usually eat cat in restaurants, not at home.

 

" There's a famous soup called 'Dragon, Tiger and

Phoenix,' " Zhu said. " It involves cooking snake,

cat and chicken together. In winter more people

eat cats as they believe it's extra nutritious. "

 

The wide-ranging Cantonese culinary tastes are on

display daily in Guangzhou, also known as Canton,

in the Qing Ping Market. Shopkeepers sit behind

cages full of writhing snakes, tubs with turtles

and plastic basins with mounds of scorpions

crawling over each other.

 

That's where the butcher, Huang, sells her meat,

sliced on a blood-soaked cutting board in a stall

filled with cages of chickens and rabbits.

 

Hanging on a hook from its head - with its snout

cut cleanly off - was a skinned dog with a long

curly tail, paws with small clumps of fur still

on them and black claws. The dog's jaw bone was

displayed in a metal tray beneath the carcass.

 

" The cat meat we sell comes from legitimate

sources, " said Huang, who gave only her surname

because her boss doesn't allow her to speak to

reporters. " It's from cat farms. The animals are

raised the same way cows are. "

 

She said cat meat sold for about $1.32 a pound,

while dog meat was cheaper, at about 95 cents a

pound. Chicken was the best buy at 62 cents a

pound, while lamb sold for about $1.32.

 

Huang said customers had to order cat meat a day

in advance because it doesn't sell as well as dog.

 

" Cat tastes a bit like lamb. I don't like it

much, " she said. " Young cats are tender, but the

meat on the older ones is really tough. Usually

old people like eating it. "

 

___

 

Associated Press writer Gillian Wong in Beijing,

researchers Xi Yue in Beijing and Ji Chen in

Shanghai, and Carley Petesch in New York

contributed to the report.

--

Kim Bartlett, President of Animal People, Inc.

Postal mailing address: P.O. Box 960, Clinton WA 98236 U.S.A.

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We believe that the Golden Rule applies to animals, too.