Current Events I

On December 1st, 2018, the Chinese Animal Protection Power (a non-profit organization) rescued 375 cats from being stuck in tight cages in Tianjin’s suburbs. The activists assumed that the animals were kept for slaughter. This operation was launched thanks to a young man who lost his cat and was searching for it. He suspected that his pet could have been stolen for meat trade. Humane Society International state that ‘North China, where the slaughterhouse is located, has no market itself for cat meat, although activists suspect that cat meat is sometimes sold as mutton or rabbit at roadside BBQ food stands. North, Central and Southeast China supply cat meat for sale in the two remote provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi in South China where cat eating occurs’. Fortunately, for Chinese local animals, the previously mentioned man is not the only person who alerted domestic officials about the animal slaughters. For example, around 1 200 phone calls that the police officers from Tianjin received were about illegal slaughterhouses across China. In addition, information about Animal rescue raids spread via WeChat, which is a Chinese social media platform.

Unfortunately, China did not have animal protection laws for a very long time. The only draft of such law, The animal protection law of the People's Republic of China/Law on the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, was prepared in the year 2009, but never legislated. Perhaps, a great push for this draft was civil shock from news about skinning and cooking live cats in the Guangdong province. With the rise of social media usage, many Chinese animal cruelty witnesses can spread awareness among themselves, and alarm not only domestic officials but also government officials about this issue. Perhaps if information about events like that could be spread wider and create a national debate, then Chinese government can finally prepare and legislate a proper animal protection law.

Original source: https://www.hsi.org/news-media/cats-saved-china-121118/