Nearly 150 cats destined for human consumption have been rescued by police in east China, animal rights organization Humane Society International (HSI) said.
The cats were being crammed into rusty cages when they were discovered by police in the city of Jinan in Shandong province, the US-based association said in a statement Tuesday.
Sparrows were placed in cages as bait and a remote control was used to close the traps as soon as a cat walked in, said an activist from VShine, a local animal rights group.
“It was shocking to see the condition they were in. Many of them were emaciated,” said Mr. Huang, another activist cited in the HSI statement. “Our discovery of dozens of live sparrows used as bait to attract cats also came as a great shock.”
Most of the rescued cats are considered pets and were placed in animal shelters after their rescue, the statement said.
Activists also found 31 sparrows – a protected species in the country – and released them into the wild.
China has no specific law punishing cruelty to animals. But the suspects could be prosecuted for hunting birds, stealing cats or breaking animal disease prevention rules.
About 10 million dogs and four million cats are killed for human consumption in the country each year, according to HSI.
Every year in June, the city of Yulin in Guangxi Province (south) holds a dog meat festival to mark the summer solstice. Cats are also sold there for consumption.
However, this meat is consumed very little in China. They are mainly located in certain areas of the southern provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi. Consumption is steadily declining as the number of pets increases.
China banned the consumption and trade of wild animals in 2020.
The cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai (south) in Guangdong have banned the consumption of dogs and cats since April. They were the first in China to take such a step.