1,000 cats rescued from slaughter for illegal meat trade in China

Selling cat meat is illegal in China, but an estimated four million cats are killed for human consumption every year

File: Cats are seen caged after being rescued from a Tianjin market in China (AP)

Police in China rescued over a thousand cats from being slaughtered and passed off as pork or mutton in illegal meat trade.

The local police intercepted a truck carrying the felines in Zhangjiagang county in Jiangsu province after receiving information sent by animal lovers about a "cat car".

The rescued cats were sent to a nearby shelter, Chinese state media The Paper reported.

Activists on 12 October alerted the police to a "cat car" – a term locally used for dealers in trucks who hunt and sell cat meat – after tracking the vehicle for nearly a week.

The group monitored the dealers' movement after discovering dozens of nailed-up wooden crates containing around 20 yowling cats each being held up in a cemetery, according to the report.

The activists stopped the vehicle earlier this month when the cats were being loaded onto the truck and called the police for assistance.

The cats could have raked in as much as £16,885. Cat meat is sold at 4.5 yuan (£0.51) a pound but at the market, mutton can be sold for 30 yuan (£3.38) a pound, activist Gong Jian told The Paper.

“Selling a skinned cat weighing around four to five pounds as mutton or pork, (the dealers) get to keep the entire price difference as profit."

The group of activists said they had previously discovered a slaughterhouse in south-eastern province Guangdong, where skinned frozen cat meat was stored.

“As long as there is something to be gained, a profit, there will be people who do whatever it takes,” Mr Gong said.

Selling cat meat is illegal in China, but according to a report by Animal Equality, an estimated four million cats are killed for human consumption every year.

Han Jiali, who began tracking the cat cars after her pet was allegedly abducted, claimed that local authorities have told her that cats do not fall under the protection of the law and public resources cannot be allocated for their care post-rescue.

“(The dealers) invaded my property, and took my ‘emotions’ to Guangdong to be eaten,” she said.

In August 2022, members of a gang of cat thieves were arrested for stealing 150 felines by using sparrows so they could be sold for meat.