|
|
A midnight standoff between cat smugglers, animal activists and the police took place a fortnight ago in Shanghai. Two trucks, stopped by a local cat lover on the way out of the city, contained over 1,500 cats to be sent to Guangdong to be eaten. One truck got away before the police showed up. The other truck, after the police arrived to search, was found to have 860 cats cramped in cages, tramping each other. Most of them were injured. A mommy cat was dying with her brood of kittens that were just delivered in the truck.
The stalemate went on for hours with increasing number of animal lovers showed up after they read the story on a pet website. The smugglers showed the police a document claiming these cats have been officially approved to be sold. But as there is no such office dealing with cat selling known to anyone, the document is very likely to be false. Besides the doubt of the fake document, some of the cats were obviously pets with collars around their necks. Though, the police still had no right to act on the situation since there is no law in China to protect cats.
Animal activists ended up paying 10,000 RMB to save the cats. The cats were later sent to one activist’s --Duo Zirong's home. Duo, a 32-year-old inner-mongolian living in Shanghai, has adopted 400 cats and took in the extra 800 plus cats to live in her two penthouses. Duo also found a smuggling route in Shanghai from stealing pet cats from neighborhoods to loading them on trucks at a “cat hub” and sending them to the country’s south during midnight. Duo’s home has turned into a cat refugee camp. Failed to have a system to disperse these cats to various animal salvation centers, cats are still living in a pretty miserable situation. But at least they are the lucky ones not end up at dinner tables in Guangdong.
China’s animal activists have stepped up their efforts, but with the vacancy of policy, the protests are still at a very basic level.
|
|
|
