Google – AFP, 4 November 2013
 |
Rescued
cats are seen in a cage in Wuxi, in east China's Jiangsu province on
November
1, 2013 (AFP/File)
|
Beijing —
Animal activists are combing a forest in eastern China for more than 1,000
kittens rescued from a meat supplier only to be let loose by local authorities,
an organiser said Monday.
Animal
protection volunteers and local police intercepted a truck "filled with
cats" destined for dinner plates last week, said an activist surnamed Ni
from the Wuxi Small Animal Protection Association in eastern Jiangsu province.
But local
government officials released the felines -- some as young as four months old
-- into a nearby mountain forest to fend for themselves, Ni said.
"They
were being sent to Guangzhou to be eaten by people," he told AFP.
"We
didn't want to release them, our volunteers had places to keep them. It's
definitely irresponsible."
Volunteers
are now scouring the hillsides with cages in an attempt to capture the cats,
and hope to put those found up for adoption, Ni said, adding that more than 50
have been retrieved in the last week.
"Some
of the cats are hungry, and haven't eaten, while others have been run over by
cars," he said.
The state-run
Beijing Youth Daily said Sunday that authorities seized the cats because the
lorry owner did not have the correct documents, but decided to release the
animals into the wild as there was no source of funds to have them put down.
China's
small but growing ranks of animal activists have staged a number of rescues in
recent years.
Cats are
not commonly eaten in most parts of China but some restaurants, particularly in
the south, continue to serve them as food.
Around 600
cats stuffed into wooden crates and on their way to such a fate were rescued
after a truck crash in January.
A convoy of
trucks carrying some 500 dogs to be sold as meat was stopped by volunteers on a
highway in Beijing in 2011 and the animals retrieved.
China does
not have any laws to protect non-endangered animals.
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