Cats in China

Written by Anne

Our cats are our furbabies.  They are part of our family, cherished and loved. It's no wonder then that the very thought of cats being raised as livestock instead of pets is so distressing for us. It was enough for insensitive trolls to set up an entire hoax website about kitty beef.

While that site is indeed fake (read this post to see why), cats (and dogs too) are indeed raised for food in some Far East countries, most notoriously in China. In a recent blog post, the people from Animals Asia Foundation described the rescue of one tiny newborn kitten.



Apparently, a mother cat gave birth while in a crowded cage in an animal market in China where the Animals Asia investigators were documenting the appalling conditions. One newborn kitten simply fell through the cage and unto the ground. She was quickly snatched away and hidden from sight, in an effort to rescue this tiny life from its horrible fate. The kitten, named Panda, was rushed to a veterinary clinic, but alas, as is often the case with such young kittens, she did not make it.

Take a minute to visit this page on their blog that was made in Memory of Panda and let us keep those poor cats in our hearts.

And while we're on the subject of cats in China... on a more positive note, some 1,300 cats were recently rescued from meat dealers in China -

The cats had been locked up in iron cages at a store in Tianjin in preparation for shipping to meat dealers in the southern province of Guangdong before they were rescued by more than 100 pet lovers and animal welfare volunteers from Tianjin and Beijing on Tuesday.

It is just a drop in the ocean, but I guess it's a positive sign of change. The rescued cats are housed in less than ideal conditions even now. Still a long way to go :(