Human consumption: Police in China rescued 150 cats from a pot

Animal rights group Animal Rights International said police have rescued nearly 150 cats destined for human consumption in eastern China.

The US-based association said in a statement on Tuesday that the feline was trapped in rusty cages when police discovered them in Jinan City, Shandong Province.

The sparrows were put into cages as bait and a remote control was used to close the traps once a cat entered, said an activist from VShine, a local animal rights group.

“It was shocking to see the state they were in. Many of them were emaciated,” Mr. Huang, another activist, said in the HSI statement. “Our discovery of dozens of live sparrows being used as bait to attract cats was also a huge shock.”

The statement said it believed most of the rescued cats were pets and were sent to shelters after they were rescued.

The activists also found 31 sparrows – a protected species in the country – and released them into the wild.

There is no specific law in China to punish cruelty to animals. But suspects can be prosecuted for hunting birds, stealing cats, or for violating animal disease prevention rules.

According to HSI, about 10 million dogs and four million cats are killed for human consumption each year in the country.

Every year in June, Yulin City, in (south) Guangxi Province, organizes a dog meat festival on the occasion of the summer solstice. Cats are also sold there to be eaten.

However, this meat is still little consumed in China. They are mainly in certain areas of the southern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi. Consumption is steadily declining as the number of pets increases.

China banned the consumption and trade of wild animals in 2020.

The cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai (south) in Guangdong have banned the consumption of dogs and cats since April. They became the first to take such a step in China.