Chinese criminal entrepreneurs sold skinned cats to restaurants as rabbits
Free enterprise at work in China.
CHINESE CRIME RING WHICH SLAUGHTERED AND SKINNED CATS AND PASSED THEM OFF AS RABBITS
Gang in Huai'an, east China, have operated across the country for a year
By Mia De Graaf
Mail Online
November 4, 2013
A criminal gang that killed and skinned cats before selling them to restaurants as rabbits has been caught by Chinese officials.
The group, operating for more than a year, bought strays for 10 Yuan (£1) and sold them on for a mark up to markets and diners all over the country, it has emerged.
Operating from a secret warehouse in the city of Huai'an, eastern China, they had a network of transport links that would liaise between them and their clients.
A lorry would arrive two or three times a week to transport hundreds of cats to customers, neighbours claim.
Residents told local media they have reported the warehouse a number of times but nothing was done.
Last week, in an early morning raid, hygiene officers surrounded the slaughter house before arresting several suspects.
They also found 60 live, caged cats and more than 30 dead cats in a freezer during the 4.30am raid.
Reports claim the gang passed the animals off as rabbits to numerous restaurants and markets.
However, some of their clients wanted the cats alive.
It is the latest incident in a long-term battle to crack down on the slaughter of cats and dogs in China - where the household pets are a regular feature on restaurant menus.
Although cats are only a delicacy in the south of the country, the scale of killing felines is just as high as that of dogs - and China does not have laws against it.
Activists regularly pay criminals for their loot of animals before taking them to a safe house and finding suitable homes.
In January, an animal rights group rescued 600 plump white cats on their way to a skinning warehouse in Changsha, central China, when the driver lost control and crashing his van.
Spotting the cages, volunteers from the Small Animal Protection Association hauled the cats from the overturned lorry and offered to buy then for 10,000 yuan (£1,000).
'It was easy to tell they were meant to be eaten,' activist Xu Chexin told AFP.
'From looking at the crates you could tell their owners didn’t care if they were alive or dead.
'When I arrived, the truck was piled high with more than 50 crates. The cats had travelled for days, without water or food, and the smell was dreadful.'
1 comment:
I have been told that, in places where rabbit is commonly eaten, the butchers leave one foot on so that you can tell for sure it is a rabbit and not a cat.
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