A Chinese livestock market was closed for selling hundreds of dogs and cats destined for slaughter, including many servants stolen from their owners. The investigation was triggered by numerous reports from activists fighting for animal rights. But it was ithe owner of a cat who had mysteriously disappeared from his home in Shanghai and who, thanks to GPS, managed to track him down in the Yuanhui market, in Guangdong province.
Thus, the authorities broke into the stalls kidnapping as many as 235 cats, which subsequently underwent a series of health checks.
"To offer cats better treatment, we negotiated with animal welfare volunteers to sell them to a professional organization" - announced the Pengjiang District Government. - “At the same time, our market supervision department is organizing a check on all the stalls in the city”.
The market in question was opened last September, with a license to sell livestock, including chickens and ducks. Soon after, however, activists found five cages in a shop with about 300 cats and dogs and various tools used for slaughtering animals. Some cats still wore the collar, confirming that they had been stolen by their rightful owners.
Despite the fact that last year, for the first time, the Ministry of Agriculture of China excluded dogs and cats from the list of animals destined for consumption, in the country (as well as in many others on the Asian continent, including Cambodia and the Vietnam) this terrible practice continues to be widespread. As the animal welfare organizations explain, most of the dogs and cats that end up in the slaughterhouse are taken from the street or stolen from their owners and very often they are captured with the help of poisoned darts.
Source: South China Morning Post
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