Illegal Meat Trade: 1,000 Cats Rescued from Slaughterhouse in China

Cats were rescued from a slaughterhouse in China, where they were supposed to be killed for human consumption amid the country's illegal meat trade.

Local police rescued more than 1,000 cats after intercepting a truck carrying the felines in the Zhangjiagang county of Jiangsu province, located north of Shanghai. The lead retrieved by the police was provided by animal lovers, who described the truck as a "cat car."

Although the cat meat trade is illegal in China, multiple reports estimate that 4 million cats are killed for their meat every year. In previous years, individuals involved in this underground illegal meat trade engaged in the abduction of pet cats from their owners by luring them using live sparrows as bait. Following their capture, the domestic cats were then transported collectively prior to being killed and sold.

Rescued Cats from Illegal Meat Trade

On October 12, animal activists alerted police forces about the cat car, a local term that pertains to dealers in trucks who abduct and sell cat meat. The activists gained the information after tracking the vehicle for almost a week. The group monitored the suspects' movement after finding dozens of nail-locked wooden crates containing around 20 squealing felines in a cemetery, according to local state-affiliated media.

This is not the first time that an illegal operation has been halted in China. Earlier this month, activists also stopped a related cat meat trade in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. In August 2022, a similar incident also occurred when local authorities rescued nearly 15 stolen pet cats in the eastern province of Shandong.

The illegal meat trade involved the selling and eating cat meat as pork and mutton which can be bought at 4.5 yuan across the cat meat market. Furthermore, local reporting indicates that the chunk of meat comes from a skinned cat, highlighting the gruesome possibility of how the animals were killed in the first place.

Cat Meat Trade

Following the recent operation against the cat meat trade in Jiangsu reports about the incident caused widespread reactions in Chinese social media, including calls for strong animal rights policies and laws, as well as concerns for food safety.

Aside from China, cat meat trade over the years was also prevalent in other countries in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Despite existing ban and restrictions, the illegal activity has continued instead of being eradicated completely.

The illegal meat trade of cats and dogs has been strongly denounced by various animal rights and welfare organizations worldwide. Activists who advocate these pet animals revealed that the illicit trade involved a network where the animals are captured and then transported to slaughterhouses and markets only to be brutally killed.

According to the organization Humane Society International, it is estimated that 10 million cats and 30 million dogs are killed each year for human consumption worldwide.