300 Cats Say: "No Soup For You!"

A Chinese animal rights group has rescued over 300 cats who were destined to be killed and served up in soup in southern Chinese restaurants.

Volunteers found the cats in a Shanghai freight yard, where they were being kept in bamboo cages before being sold to restaurants in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. At least three of the animals were dead and many others had broken legs.

Yang Baoguo, a dealer involved in the cat trade for more than a decade, said he purchased cats from "hunters" who capture them in residential districts at night. The cats are then sold to restaurants for about 50 yuan ($7) each, well above the price of pork or lamb.

The cat dealer was detained but was released several hours later on the grounds that cats are unprotected animals in China and there is no legislation preventing cats from being eaten. The cats were returned to their owners or adopted by animal lovers.

Source: en.rian.ru; Photo: telegraph.co.uk