Cat Cages of Unspeakable Horror

Think of a horror movie. One of the most gruesome. This is the cat world equivalent.

Warning: Graphic Content (I have limited the number of photos)…Thousands of cats and dogs – many still wearing their collars having been snatched from loving homes – are being slaughtered in the city of Yulin, central China

Yes, we know about it: the Chinese cat and dog meat markets where unspeakable horrors await domestic cats snatched from the street and from their owners.  Most of the cats and dogs have collars and therefore they’re not feral, even if that made any difference. They are stolen from their owners.  How people can do this is totally beyond my comprehension.

This, in fact, is the so-called annual Meat Festival (“festival”!) in China, which we were told was going to be shut down by the authorities but it has not (surprised?).  It was investigated by animal rights groups ahead of the beginning of the festival on June 22 and they found 4,000 cats in tiny cages where they were killed.  Most of the cats and dogs were still wearing collars and they were beaten to death or their throats were slit while other traumatised cats and dogs looked on.  As many as 10,000 cats and dogs are brought to the festival which indicates that very many die on the way.

Sarah Hartwell said that this sort of human behaviour would drive her to kill and I am in complete sympathy with that sentiment. The deeply traumatised cats and dogs who survive the journey to this place of horror are brutally slaughtered in a barbaric manner.

Humane Society International discovered that local slaughterhouses were instructed to kill animals at night to avoid detection because they appear to be illegal (if that makes any difference).  In addition restaurants were told to not use the words “dog meat” on their menus.  Who instructed them to do this?  I’ll have a guess: the local authorities whose job it is to enforce the law and carry out their promises. I allege that the local authorities are playing the usual games. Corrupt to the core.

Cat horrors. Chinese meat festival. Something out of a horror movie

The slaughterhouses are full of blood, internal organs and carcasses that had been burnt with a blowtorch.  Freshly slaughtered animals hang from books.

In the area where this festival takes place, Yulin in the south-west, there is the highest incidence of rabies in the country recorded at 338 deaths between 2002 and 2006.  This is according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare.  It is highly likely that the mass transport of cats and dogs over long distances increases the risk of rabies and therefore the people attending this festival and the cat and dog meat eating public of south-west China are bringing this fatal disease upon themselves.  In fact, I can recall one case of rabies in Vietnam being caused because of the habit of eating the cooked brains of cats (meal called: “rua man”).

Mr Li of Humane Society International said:

“Another small dog who was always close by this first dog was so quiet as if he was broken spirited, knowing what fate could afford him… Their faces were just so unforgettable.  Their eyes… I knew I couldn’t help all these poor animals, but I had to try to change the life of these 2 fellows.”

Mr Li saved the lives of two cats and two dogs.

How can this horror go on?  The Chinese are completely immune to criticism about this and when criticised they simply say that it is no different to killing livestock.  They insist that the West keep their noses out of their business.  Should we keep our noses out of their business?  Or should we criticise them and put pressure upon them to change their ways?  Do we have the right to criticise them bearing in mind that, at a guess, over 2,000,000 cats are euthanised in the USA annually because they are unwanted? The world is mixed up.

• Source: Inside the Chinese ‘meat festival’ Yulin…
• My thanks to Sarah Hartwell for telling me about this story.