(CN) Barbaric Chinese cat market closed

[Guest guest]

by IAN GALLAGHER, Mail on Sunday (UK)

1st April 2001

 

The barbaric cat market exposed by The Mail on Sunday has been shut down by

police in China after pressure from thousands of horrified readers.

 

The report - followed up by newspapers and magazines throughout the world -

detailed the appalling conditions the animals are forced to endure before

being killed and eaten in restaurants.

 

Animal welfare organisations said the closure of the Xin Yuan market in the

city of Guangzhou, capital of the southern province of Guangdong,

represented a 'significant victory' for The Mail on Sunday and its readers

because it is not illegal to sell cats for food in China.

 

The country's embassy in London was flooded with calls and letters - many of

them from Chinese people living in Britain --who were shocked by the

sickening trade.

 

Others wrote to the animal welfare organisation, Animals Asia Foundation

and, armed with hundreds of readers' letters, it set up a meeting with

Chinese government officials. Bowing to the pressure, they ordered police

officers to raid the market last week.

 

The cats, which were squeezed 25 at a time inside cages measuring 2ft by

3ft, have been released and it is understood an assurance has been given

that they will not be sold again.

 

The Mail on Sunday found hundreds of cats on display, all crammed in cages

stacked up to 12ft high in some cases. Some of them remain for up to two

months inside the cages . . . and many die before reaching their final

destination.

 

One trader, Yanwu Peng, eagerly proferred his business card, which stated:

'Supplier of cats to fine restaurants and hotels'. He told us he didn't

understand the concerns about his treatment of the animals. 'I do not think

it is wrong to keep them this way,' he explained. 'They will die soon

anyway.'

 

He sells the cats to restaurant owners for about £1 a pound, less if they

are bought in bulk. They are fed once a day on a mixture of rice and animal

feed.

 

Jill Robinson, director of Animals Asia Foundation and one of the few

Westerners to have visited the market, thanked The Mail on Sunday for

highlighting the animals' plight.

 

She said: 'We've received a phenomenal number of letters, phone calls and

e-mails as a result of your story. The article provoked reaction all over

the world. It was amazing.'

 

Ms Robinson took many of the letters with her when she met Chinese officials

last week to press for a change in the law.

 

'I'm surprised but delighted that the authorities have responded so

quickly,' she said.

 

The cats - just like our domestic pets - are reared by villagers who sell

them on to the market where they are bought by restaurant owners.

 

At one restaurant in Guangzhou the animals are put in cages outside and

customers are invited to select the one that takes their fancy. The chef

then kills the cat of their choice by cutting its throat.

 

http://www.animalsasia.org/beInformed/campaigns/caasia001.html#cat