They were sent to slaughter. A thousand cats saved from a truck

Thanks to the intervention of the police in Zhangjiagang, eastern China, in Jiangsu province, a thousand cats were saved. The animals were already on a truck, which was supposed to end up at an illegal slaughterhouse. The meat was intended to imitate pork or lamb and be used in the catering industry.

The criminal procedure came to light thanks to the involvement of animal activists. Private individuals stumbled upon the illegal trade, in which scammers were mass-catching wild living cats, then slaughtering and distributing them to food vendors.

As reported by the Chinese state newspaper "The Paper", officials listened to informants, organized a manhunt for counterfeiters, and indeed intercepted a vehicle carrying live cats. There were as many as a thousand of them.

As reported by "The Paper", the police and local veterinary services sent cats to a nearby shelter for homeless animals. The thwarted procedure could have brought the fraudsters approximately two thousand dollars.

The newspaper reports that animal activists stumbled upon the case when someone noticed traps set up in secluded areas of the city, including near a cemetery, with captured cats. A civic investigation ensued, the results of which amazed the police in Zhangjiagang.

- Some people will do anything, against any rules of decency, to get rich - said Gong Jian, an activist working at an animal shelter in Jiangsu, which took in rescued death row cats. As he explained, for every pound (about 1.1 lbs) of butchered cat meat, scammers could get about 4 dollars.

Another activist, Han Jiali, comments that the procedure that has just been revealed was not isolated. The woman participated in the interception of similar transports in Guangdong, a province in southern China.

Although China has regulations that protect farm animals and endangered species from cruel treatment, there is no general law regarding pets, stray dogs, and cats. The Zhangjiagang scandal sparked discussions in the media, not only about animal rights but also about food safety.

Many people point out that the organization of the largest festival in Yulin in the Guangxi region, where dog meat connoisseurs meet, is still not forbidden. However, more and more people are not only protesting against this event but also demanding a ban on the slaughter of dogs and the consumption of their meat.