(CN) Cat Fight Over China's Feline Meat Trade

[Guest guest]

9:10am UK, Monday March 09, 2009

Sky News

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Holly Williams in China

 

" It cost me seven Renminbi a pound, " a man told me, pointing at a hessian

sack. He had paid about 70p for cat meat at a southern China market.

 

In China, the trade in live cat meat thrives but there is growing opposition

 

As we chatted, the bag seemed to move by itself, emitting a plaintive

'meowing' sound.

 

The man had just bought four live cats, which he told me he had served up

later that day to diners in his restaurant.

 

In China, the trade in live cat meat is thriving. By some estimates, 10 000

cats are sold and eaten every day in one city alone - mainly served up as

kebabs or in Chinese-style hotpot.

 

Yet, as we filmed a row of cat traders in the market, they decided they

didn't want us there. Thrusting their hands in the camera, a group of them

wrestled us onto the street.

 

In another market, a cat dealer even attacked us with a wooden stick.

 

" Get lost, " he shouted at me after seeing our camera. " You foreigners stay

out of China's business. "

 

One cat being shipped to market

 

For many Chinese people - especially in the country's south - eating cat is

a perfectly normal tradition.

 

We visited a restaurant in the city of Guangzhou that specialises in what

the Chinese call 'wild taste'.

 

The waitress showed us cages full of live animals - turtles, snakes,

pheasants and domesticated cat.

 

A chef tried to sell us a dish called Dragon, Tiger, Phoenix - a stew of

snake, pheasant and cat meat.

 

But now, the eating of cat meat has become a cultural battleground in China

as animal rights activists face off against traditionalists.

 

It is also highlighted divisions between China's new middle class - for whom

having a pet is a status symbol - against those here who are themselves

struggling to survive, and see no need for animal rights.

 

Barbarians. They're barbarians. Otherwise, how could they eat cat meat?

 

Wu Xue, whose cat disappeared from her doorstep

 

Cat protection groups have sprung up in cities across China.

 

Frustrated by their government, they stage their own raids - storming into

restaurants and markets, attempting to shame people out of eating cat.

 

Sky News has obtained video footage from one recent raid near Shanghai,

where campaigners tried to hold up a truck-load of cats being shipped to

market.

 

They released traumatised animals from cramped wooden crates, while a

horrified crowd looked on. But when the police arrived, they backed the cat

dealer.

 

In China, there is no law at all against animal cruelty. The trader even had

a certificate to prove what he was doing was legal.

 

Sky News accompanied another group of campaigners to a village butcher known

to sell cat meat. They carried cages hoping to rescue any animals they found

alive.

 

But when we got there it was too late. All the butcher had in stock were

four cats that had already been killed, skinned and frozen.

 

As the campaigners attempted to confiscate her knives and meat hooks, I

asked what she felt as she butchered the cats. " Nothing at all, " she

replied.

 

What makes it worse for Chinese cat lovers is that many of the animals sold

for their meat are not farmed, but stolen from their owners.

 

I met with a group of people who told me they had all lost pet cats to

thieves who trap and sell them for their meat.

 

" Barbarians. They're barbarians, " said Wu Xue, whose cat disappeared from

her doorstep late last year. " Otherwise, how could they eat cat meat? "

 

The Chinese have been eating cat for centuries but the practice has now

opened a wound in this country, pitting those who believe it must end

against others who say it is simply part of Chinese culture.