Chinese Cats Skinned and Cooked Alive; Activists Outraged
Cruelty against cats is increasing in Guangdong, China, where over 10,000 domesticated cats are eaten daily. The cats, some of which are apparently being stolen from people’s houses, are transported in small cages to restaurants in the town where they are then cooked, often while they are still alive.
Activists in China are taking a stronger stance against this cruelty, and have begun demonstrating in Beijing against the treatment of cats used for food. 40 people, many of them elders who care for orphaned cats, protested outside of the Guangdong office in Beijing.
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A butcher from the province plans to continue using cat meat as the main ingredient in the region’s famous soup, which also includes chicken and dog. She blew the protests off, saying “Cats have a strong flavor.” The animals are likely to continue being used as food, as the Chinese, and the Cantonese in particular, are known for their adventurous taste buds.
But even if cats remain a food source in China, the abhorrent treatment of them must cease. Stealing companion animals from peoples’ homes and skinning them alive is something that would never be tolerated in many other countries, regardless of the type of animal.
With outcry like this, and with landmark animal welfare legislation such as California’s Proposition 2 passing, it is obvious that people are making the connection between the animals we see as “pets” and the animals we see as food sources. Maybe this awareness will even cause more people to make the switch the vegetarianism?
Photo Credit: Gruntzooki on Flickr under Creative Commons license
Sounds delicious
What? No pictures???
This is an absolute outrage. This is disgusting and inhumane and even worse, these bastards are stealing people’s pets. My pets are like my kids and if anyone laid a finger on them, Id warrent the same reaction as if someone tried to harm my son. This is an epidemic, yes, an EPIDEMIC, that needs to be brought to the attention of many more people quickly so we can get some order in an otherwise orderless craphole of a country.
what about the F-in dog in the picture
thanks for this post. not that i (or anyone) enjoy to hear about animals being skinned and cooked alive, but it’s happening — so it is a sad reality that we all need to face and bear witness.
i’d like to take this opportunity to ask people to think about how much our culture dictactes which animals are food, and which are friends, and how arbitrary this distinction is. to the animals, it’s all the same: they no not want to be killed. lobsters are boiled alive here in the US. is this any better? (i’m putting aside the whole aspect of stealing someone’s pet, witch is obviously wrong!)
I really think that it is the animals that should do more for animal rights
American cats are sitting around the house eating kibbles and bits while their chinese counterparts are being skinned and boiled alive. This is selfish and is something they should be more involved in.
And as for Milles comments, I feel that there should not be bias in which animals you should feel need to be treated with care. If you personally feel that boiling an animal alive is wrong than that should apply to all animals, regardless of cuteness and size. I, on the other hand, enjoy eating a wide variety of animals and therefore are agnostic to the topic.
Is the author very sure that the animals are being skinned and cooked alive? I find myself wondering what purpose that would be for? Trying to skin a live cat would certainly be appalling to the majority of people everywhere, dangerous (scratches and bites anyone?), time consuming, and plus a tremendous yuck-gross factor. So unless the Chinese are just into cruelty for the fun of it, I don’t understand why they would not kill the cats first.
If they are killing the cats in a swift and least painful manner possible, then back off people. You are trying to regulate everyone to your standards of acceptable behavior. Study history and you find that method has been judged by history as backfiring, unethical, self-serving, and causes strive. Freedom, remember what the word means?
Millie- Right on. I don’t eat any animals, because I don’t think treating an animal cruelly is ever okay. I do not make distinction between cats and chickens when it comes to which one I would sooner cook and consume.
Hank- I believe your last point is exactly what Millie was trying to say.
Valerie- I sourced this from a Los Angeles Times article, which said “The cats are being skinned and then cooked alive.” If you click on the first sentence, you can read the original article in its entirety.
I would also like to reemphasize that it is not radical kids in the US that are outraged by this practice, but people in China itself, many of them elderly folks having their pets stolen from their homes. People are afraid to leave their homes unattended out of worry that their companion animals will be missing when they return.
I saw this on HBO years ago. They put a noose around the cats neck (like a dog catchers pole) and then dip them briefly into scalding water while still alive. This allows the skin to peel off easily and at this point the cats are still alive.
that’s some sick shit. obviously those people don’t subscribe to the notion we are all one.