China's Animal Lovers Fight Illegal Cat Meat Trade

China's Animal Lovers Fight Illegal Cat Meat Trade

When Han Jiali's beloved cat Dabai was taken from her Shanghai home last year, she embarked on a hunt for her pet that took her deep into the bowels of China's underground feline meat trade. Most people in China do not eat cat meat, but an estimated four million furry friends are slaughtered for food each year in an illegal market that includes areas of Guangdong province, neighbouring Guangxi and beyond, according to Humane Society International. Han, who has spent thousands of dollars and weeks at a time tracking cat meat traders through China, has uncovered a supply chain preying on urban strays and outdoor pets in the region surrounding Shanghai. Her quest to find Dabai led her to grimy processing plants in Guangdong, where she saw skinned cat carcasses piled in crates and sacks of fur. She found village restaurants that openly advertised cat meat and unscrupulous sellers who passed it off as mutton or rabbit. "I had to admit then that my cat was gone," an emotional Han told AFP. Source