Police rescue 150 cats headed for dinner tables in China

An international animal welfare group said on Wednesday that about 150 cats have been rescued in China after they were bound for slaughterhouses, a media organistation reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the Humane Society International (HSI) said in a statement that the cats were put inside cages when they were found by the Shandong province police.

Most of the rescued animals are believed to have been household pets and sent to animal shelters, the HSI statement added.

  This photo released on Wenesday by Vshine/Humane Society International shows cats rescued by police in Jinan. AFP

An activist, named Huang, said in a statement to HIS, “it was shocking to see the state they were in, many of the cats emaciated and crying out. The suspects placed other sparrows in cages as lure and used a remote control to close the traps as soon as each cat entered.

The animal right activists also found 31 sparrows — a protected species in China — at the scene and freed them back into the wild. China has no animal cruelty prevention laws, but the gang members could face penalties for hunting the birds.

The activist added that our discovery of dozens of live sparrows used as bait to lure the cats was also a big shock.