Girl tries to save stolen cats from slaughterhouse

China During her journey to find her pet, Han Jia Li discovered that her cat had been sent to a slaughterhouse and she devoted much effort to preventing other cats from falling into the same fate.

When Han Jiali’s pet cat, Da Bai, was stolen from her Shanghai home last year, she embarked on a pet hunt. She spent thousands of dollars and weeks tracking cat meat traders across China, uncovering a supply chain of pet cat thefts and the capture of stray cats in the area around Shanghai.

Her search for Da Bai took her to the squalid slaughterhouses of Guangdong province, where she saw piles of skinned cats and sacks of cat hair. She also visited rural restaurants that openly sold cat meat, and vendors who lied about selling cat meat as lamb or rabbit.

Han Jia Li in Shanghai on November 2, holding up pictures of cats in a slaughterhouse in Foshan. Photo: AFP

Han was determined to save other cats from a similar fate and spent the past year tracking down cat thieves, reporting them to the police and petitioning the Guangdong provincial government.

"I was so scared, I thought about giving up and pretending I never saw all this," Han confided. "But if I disappeared and kept quiet, who would save the cats from this miserable situation?"

Several Chinese localities, including Shenzhen and Zhuhai, have banned the consumption of dog and cat meat. Activists and commentators in state media are calling on parliament to pass a draft law on animal cruelty that would ban the eating of dogs and cats.

"I'm just an ordinary person with limited abilities," Han said.

Cat transport vehicle blocked in Zhangjiagang on October 12. Photo: Jiupai News

Last month, Han and other animal rescuers intercepted a truck carrying hundreds of cats leaving Zhangjiagang county, near Shanghai, with the help of police.

"They used the cemetery as a collection point for captured cats," Han said. "We observed and quickly discovered that they intended to sell these cats."

She and her friends stayed up all night to guard the cemetery, before a truck arrived in the morning, carrying dozens of cages crammed with 800 cats. Police and animal rescue workers stopped the truck. The cats were taken to a shelter in Taicang, Jiangsu Province, about an hour’s drive from Shanghai.

Volunteers isolated sick cats, vaccinated and disinfected the wounds of the healthier ones. After weeks of treatment and quarantine, the first litter of cats was moved to a large, wooded outdoor area.

Mr. Co covers the costs out of his own pocket, accepting only material donations such as equipment and snacks. He plans to move all the cats to a small island near a local temple, where a tent and dozens of rescued cats live.

Cats at a rescue station in Jiangsu earlier this month. Photo: AFP

On the island, cats lounge on the grass, sleep under the trees, and pass their days peacefully, a far cry from the days they spent in trucks filled with cages. Gu Min said she was touched when many animal lovers offered to help after the media reported on the cat rescue in Zhangjiagang.

However, he said "we need to push for changes in national laws because relying on individuals or a few small groups is not realistic".

Hong Hanh (According to AFP )

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