With the Olympics coming, Beijing is getting ready–cleaning up the streets, beautifying the city, demonstrating its industrial power to the world. But one act in particular is outright barbaric– the killings of cats. This is two-fold: 1) the government uses scare tactics by terrifying its citizens that cats carry diseases, into surrendering the animals; and 2) use the Olympics as an excuse to clean up the streets by exterminating them. China has once did this with dogs for fear of rabies and SARS, and the way in which they destroy these poor animals is atrocious.
Without the cats, mice and rats will increase by numbers, and the chances of the rodents carrying and transmitting diseases will be even more detrimental.
Cats are rounded up by the thousands into large crates and trucked off to what animal welfare groups describe as extermination camps on the edges of the city. The estimated number of extermination will be in the half a million, just over a year after the Chinese were criticized for beating and killing stray dogs across the country and selling them for aphrodisiac effects in their meat. The U.K.’s Daily Mail reports that these cats go to the camps, if not destroyed right away, are trapped and crammed into cages and waiting to die slow, agonizing deaths.
Look at the picture above, how does it not break your heart completely? Please help by spreading the word of this atrocity.
UPDATE 12/24/2009
This post has generated a lot of comments, both positive and negative. For those of you who see the China cat massacre as “justified” and “evolutionary” and “normal” and “survival of the fittest” I just want to say, that you have a point. And before you go defending the “human race” in saying that we are animals and we are entitled to eat cats (and other livestock), please try to open your mind to the following:
Humans are animals, and we are at the top of the food chain. In the natural world, as the superior animal, we hunt and eat other animals to survive. This is the order of the world. HOWEVER, we are also the ONLY animal species that has the capability to control what and HOW we kill and eat, unlike. animals they DO it for survival in the natural sense. And because of this conundrum, we as humans have the COGNITIVE power to be responsibly humane. Animals do not torture other animals for food or fur, they merely kill to feed themselves and their young. THIS is a big difference.
I think people who tend to say that this is not a big deal, that people can do whatever they want and treat animals however they want, is missing a gene. It is NOT normal to be okay with cats and dogs to be beaten and treated without mercy. It is NOT okay to not feel anything when you see a dog beaten with a metal stick, its fur being stripped from its body while still alive; a cat being boiled alive or stepped on like rodents. It is NOT okay to pass this kind of thinking onto our children.
Compassion is all we’re advocating for. If you read my post carefully, you will see that more than anything else, it’s about treating even those we eat with some mercy so there is less suffering.
Filed under: animal cruelty, dogs and cats, international issues, animal rights, beijing, china, diseases, dog and cat meat, extermination, human rights, killing cats, olympics, SARS
How awful for these poor cats. China really needs to get its act together. Great post
Ksawyer215
So after reading this delightful commentary and discussing it amongst my American classes I discovered that this really doesn’t matter in the scope of life. Yes, I am slightly saddened at the fate of these felines, but I will concerning myself with other important matters like stopping abortion in which a baby holocaust is going down. Do felines really matter?
hey! how would you like it if you were those cats!? huh?
do humans really matter? why are humans more important than anything else? simply because you are a human so you have compassion for your kind. why are cats more important than cattle? or dogs more important than pigs? i see humans as equal to everything else, and none of it really matters. humans are simply the force on the earth that destroys everything else, so in a sense, every other animal/plant/insect would be better off without humans destroying them.
this doesn’t make any sense :/ but thanks for the comment
People with different cultures may see this issue differently. If all the animals are equal,why can people eat cattle, chicken, monkeys, fish etc. but not cats?
Ryan, Abortion is not a matter for society to decide on – it is a process involving an individual woman and her body. Every woman and every man has the right to make decisions about their own body, but there is really no basis for individuals in society to vote on rules about other individual’s bodies… especially when the voter’s body is not going to be affected by the other individual’s decision.
Animal welfare is a social concern because the use of antibiotics in large factory farms can pose threats to humans in the form of super diseases, and other illness and environmental problems related to unsanitary conditions and waste disposal from those farms. Felines do matter, in fact. But our society can learn to pick and choose their battles appropriately. Why are cats and dogs a concern, but not cows, chickens, and pigs?
YES! Felines DO matter! All animals do, and if every human acts like that, then soon enough we may end up killing ourselves from causing the extinction of other animals such as felines, canines, and many others. Not trying to be rude, but it is the truth.
All life matters. It is people who think about “what’s more important” that allow abortions and acceptable deaths, hunger, homeless, etc. Because people ask themselves, “what is more important; my child’s education or this man starving to death in the street?” It isn’t about what is more important but what is right and moral. Unnecessary death or abuse of an animal is not right or moral and should be considered just as horrific as any other death. I believe that your view point “more important things” is a cop out and gives people the ability to turn away from people or animals in need. It is weak. I’ve seen it used a hundred times on many different issues. If you don’t care about the death of the cats than just say so and don’t hide behind “more important things” to hide your indifference.
Jillian, this is an incredible point you’ve just made. Thank you for your thoughtful response. I agree that people who tends to say that animal suffering is less important than than human suffering gets us nowhere. These are all important issues, I do not think that fighting for animal welfare is more important, it’s only one of many issues I pay attention to, and everyone else should have the right to do the same.
Ryan, its incredibley arrogant to say that any female should be forced to have a child just because you personally see it as murder to the unborn child. Have you ever been put in the position of being raped by a family member, or anyone for that matter, only to be kicked out by the rest of the family because they assumed you were fooling around? No I don’t suppose you have because if you did you would realise that not everything is as black and white as you’d wish it to be.
How awful for those poor dairy cows crammed into dark barns for their whole lives, pumped full of hormones and antibiotics. How awful for those poor chickens, those poor pigs. Those poor pigeons and rats being poisoned in cities. The US really needs to get its act together.
What difference does it make what kind of animal it is? Different cultures place different social values on animals; westerners don’t make a big deal about how cows and chickens are kept before they are killed for meat, but the thought of cats being collected in crates and being killed gives people the creeps…?
The author if this article better be vegan.
Cows, chickens and pigs absolutely matter. No one is saying they don’t. Factory farming is horrifically cruel, it’s not just hormones but the way they go to slaughter is indescribably merciless.
It’s one thing to question about what culture/country and what social values they have on animals. But I think the main concern here is the way in which they are killed. Most people will become vegetarians if they know really goes on – cows being skinned and cut up while still conscious, cats boiled alive, dogs beaten to death on the streets, piglets castrated without anesthesia, sows electrocuted and stunned to disorient, lambs with their coats shaven to the the flesh, and so on.
very thoughtful commentary. It really is a sad situation. I hope this gets more exposure in the main stream press. Forwarded to a few people.
So tragic. They never fail to surprise me with human/animal right issues.
Thank you for caring for us Chinese people as well as the animals.However,when you overstress the human rights of the Chinese,it’s likely that you might ignore their human rights in their perspectives.Besides,as the society becomes more and more closely connected,especially in a populous country like China,a community’right is more previleged than a single person.Forgive me for my poor English.
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation
Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Reenergize.
if you surch this on youtube you can really see the extent of what happens.
Care to quote your sources Jenny? And please, for Pete’s sake don’t tell us it’s from PETA.
fuck you barbarians!
anyways china i hate u..why do u eat cats….and dogs thats wrong
This is definitely a great post Jenny, and i completely agree with you. This is an issue that has to be brought to light and i congradulate you for taking the first couple steps. Now as for THIS comment, is a blatant steryotype that i find incredibly annoying. Not EVERYONE in China eats cats and dogs and treats them as brutually, most of us happen to enjoy keeping them as pets and if you read Jenny’s source, it says that there are animal activist groups in China fighting against this. However, theyre SCARED. The Chinese government is incredibly oppressive and they have the power to do what they please, no matter how horrendous it is. Is this right? i think we can all agree that the answer is no. And yes there has to be some form of change, but until that time comes, the Chinese people will have to remain unhappily silent. As for WHY the custom of eating cats, dogs, and horses arose. During China’s history the chinese have had to deal with constant famines due to their explosive population. This has led..to a rather peculiar choice of diet. The custom stuck.. Though now i hope that it will fade away with the new generation.
But before you become so quick to judge our culture, take a look at your own. The treatment of cattle and chicken is absolutely ridiculous in the States and the devouring of animals is rampant.
There, im done my rant! The treatment of these cats is..barbaric, yes. And though there are arguements for both sides, i do believe eating cats is wrong. And the Chinese GOVERNMENT is stupid for thinking that this will solve the problem of disease. Youre better off with immunization and better at enforcing anit-infection procedures. And if the Chinese government refuses to do so, i think that the other powers in the world should begin to pressure them.
But please, think before you stereotype and lump ALL of us in with the people who commit these atrocities.
Im proud to be Chinese, but i am ashamed that some of my countrymen would go so low.
thats not normal. how could someone kill something as cute and cuddly as a cat? its like eating a guinea pig!
Peruvians eat and estimated 65 million guinea pigs a year.
And where does one hold up the measure for what’s considered “normal?”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3946771.stm
I agree. While it’s completely barbaric to torture and maim animals for no reason, I don’t see what the problem with eating certain ones is. Just because we’ve defined what animals are food and what aren’t, doesn’t make us right on the matter. Also- the only reason that we have pet guinea pigs is because people raised food guinea pigs. Pigs are both a popular food item and a popular pet.
omg…poor cat’s. I can’t beleive someone would do that….
That is terrible. What jerks they are! Cats have mroe right then that. Anywhere. If China is so powerful and smart and have loads of money, instead of putting these cats in DeathCamps and killing them, why don’t they put that money to good sue and care for the cats, spay or nueter them so they don’t reproduce (thats a good idea, ever think of that? Nope, didn’t think so.) and put them in shelters for people who actually give a damn about cats adopt them. So there you go. Brilliant idea for you suckers!
All of you are hypocrites, unless you’re 100% vegetarian! What’s the difference between eating beef and cat? Cows aren’t as intelligent, aren’t as cute? Can’t be domesticated? The bottom line is, make sure you’re not guilty of eating meat, because then you’re just as cruel as these people, you’re cruel as the next guy. Meat is meat, and it doesn’t matter what animal it comes from!
Yes in a sense we are hypocrites, but i don’t think we’re ridiculing their diet. i eat meat, but I’m becoming veggie since i recently realized happen to animals inside the Food and Farming industries, but its not only because I’m eating a living creature that I’m changing. I’m Changing because I’m eating a living creature who never actually “lived!” Most of the animals used in the meats we eat had never even seen a pasture in their lives, or even had the chance, or the room to run. This is why we are ridiculing The Chinese Government,not because they’re eating animals that we consider pets, but because they’re slaughtering multitudes of innocent creatures violently and without mercy. Many of these cats aren’t even being eaten.
WTF EAT CHICKEN LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE YOU SICK FUCKS!
umm..we do eat chicken actually..quite a lot of it..but just to be clear, are you saying that taking a chickens life is better than taking a cats?
yes i am chinese too i agree with mrjoe lunatic (cough kung poa chicken and many other stuff) we also eat many other meats, i think if you read carefully, the point is that its not what china eats, its how they treat the animals, inhumanely of course.
You are a very sad person. You obviosly feel that you have to swear to make yourself understood.
:’( why do they have to do this.
this has to stop .
the bit that made me upset the most was “Right now as we speak, cats are rounded up by the thousands into large crates and trucked off to what animal welfare groups describe as extermination camps on the edges of the city.”
While I do NOT eat cats or dogs, you people have to realize that in a lot of other countries (NOT in the USA or Europe), that eating animals of ALL kinds of not only the “norm”, but in some cases it’s quite necessary, due to population growth, lack of food supplies, and so forth.
I love how Americans and Europeans always like to throw the first stones at people who are so different than they are, calling them barbarians, savages, sick fucks and so on.
This is because most of you have NEVER been to a foreign country, nor have you ever experienced what it’s like to live a different life in a different land, with “strange” customs, foods, languages, etc.
I’ve been to over 31 different countries so far, and it never seems to amaze me how much we are all SO different, yet SO much alike…
This is so horrible… D:
omg that is horrible. i am only eleven and i think its horrible. my family gets up as many animals at the pound as we can. so right now with my mom, me, my sister and our roomate we have 4 cats and 1 dog. we love our animals and we would never treat them that way. thats horible
This is the biggest waste of resources I have ever seen. Do you not understand that if we(the world Human population) don’t have the resources to handle humans why would we ever have the ability to handle cats. Side note: cats kill million of birds every day. Why should cats be held above birds? If you save the cats (which are here for human caused reasons) you kill the birds!!!!!!!!!! What about bird RIGHTS!
this is funny becuase this has nothing to do with birds, and i have been reading all of your comments jenny, i completely agree with you
The China is a great place. It is very influenced me. But I do not like what they are doing to those poor animals… bastards
well how would feel to feed 1/16 of the world population? Guess like u need an extra pair of hands or more. Beside this is known as one of Darwin Theory “survival the fittest”. Human are also consider to be animal too. Do some reading and research your finding and stop this nonsense. Soon or later u guys are going to eat them too if there was no ration left.
cheng, ok right now china is importing foods and also is the largest producer of rice, despite its small area of farmland. next, “survival of the fittest” is supposed to be NATURAL from change of environment by isolation, weather, etc. not by human actions such as this (except for stituations like the industrial revolution which is partially another inhumane matter) THIS is another story, this is humans killing other animals that have just as much rights as humans themselves, for what? just to “clean” the place.
It is sad to see how China treats animals in this cruel manner. The people of china have no respect for Gods creatures.
it is harmful for cats and its harmful for human too…
china doesn’t harm it’s animals, what false evidence.
That’s not right!Most Chinese don’t eat cats!
This sickens me.
It makes my stomach roil is disgust….
This horrible.
These creatures are not diserving of their fate….
Humans should have more control and compassion.
if we interupt human holocaust why not animal holocaust? its just as horrible.
I personally dont see the problem with this. Whilst i am against animal cruelty what is the difference in eating chicken or beef? And to compare it to the human holocaust, thats just wrong!
I hate when they hurt animals, how could they EAT cats!!??
Dont get me wrong, i understand where youre coming from. But when you’ve been forced to peel off bark and boil it for food, and options to feed your family are dwindling, you may be forced to do drastic things:P
How can you eat cats and dogs they are so cute and is really cruel to eat them, why dont they just eat normal chinese food like sushi maybe. Eating any cat or dog would be the last thing id do because i am a serious animal lover. honestly when ever i go to the park and i see any pets i ask if i can stroke them.
sushi is a japanese food:) just thought I would inform!:D
Actually the first sushi was invented in Korea, because Korea has 500 years history and Japan only has 300 years. The most common Korean sushi is called “Kimbab”
It would be horribe just to eat a hamster or guinea pig let alone a animal like a cat or dog. It wouldnt taste very nice anyway! lol
It wouldnt taste very nice! lol
The inhumane way they are treating these animals just makes me sick. Yes, i get that eating cats is part of their culture, and i do my best to keep an open mind and respect that, but doing these terrible things to ANY living, feeling thing is just completely wrong. Shoving defenseless cats into tiny crates, boiling them, beating them ect. is not ok. Thank you Jenny for bringing this to light. You are truly a compassionate person.
God put animals on this earth for us to have dominion over. Saying that animals are equal is totally absurd. Sure, I think this is disturbing and totally wrong, but I’m not gonna lose sleep over it and say that the Earth is better off without humans! Listen to yourselves! So you’d rather be bitten by a rabid cat than kill them.
Animal cruelty has nothing to do with God or religion, let’s clear that up right now. Yes, we have dominion over animals because of our superior intelligence, yet it’s because of this we have the morals and responsibility to be humane and merciful. No one is saying Earth is better off without humans, and that humans and animals are equal.
It is wrong of them to do that the cats can’t even move in the cages this is sad
but some Americans tazer the cows 
We americans consume so many cattle a year.
Talking about Chinas shark finning check out the killing of whales and dolphins in Denmark… In parts of australia they would kill kangaroos and dingos for food.
Well not all chinese,americans,australians or denmarkians are bad ^^ most chinese people don’t eat cats or dogs just the villagers cause their too poor to buy food.
The worse race ever is humans D: we pollute,eat food for pleasure instead of survival like animals, war, weapons of mass destructions….sucks
To be fair, we treat livestock with cruelty almost as badly in America. I think we’ve all seen the news report where “downer cows” were heavily abused and tortured moments to slaughter. Pigs are beaten in factory farms, electrocuted. Lambs in Australia are castrated without anesthesia and shaved down to the flesh when wool are taken off their skin.
China is not the only nation that need better humane laws, however it just seems so much more unacceptable to “us” since cats and dogs are companion animals in Western countries.
Yes I’m aware that other cultures have their customs. While we are taught to be tolerant of other cultures, however, there is a line that should be drawn. Cruelty is unacceptable in ANY geography, culture, etc. What bothers me most is the way in which animals endure – tremendous pain and suffering.
China doesn’t have to boil cats alive to exterminate them. They don’t have to strip the fur off the backs of dogs while they are still alive, then lie about the fur being faux in the clothing they export to America. They don’t have to beat them to death thinking that they would release aphrodisiac hormones resulting in their meat.
So what makes these cats any different from cows in america?
When a cow is born it is stuffed into a space where it cannot move and is forced to eat corn (corn is the cheapest therefore the only feed for the cows). Since the cows continuelly eat the same food their digestive system start to collapse and holes begin to form that eventually kill the cow from the inside out. Before the cow is killed by the digestive system killing it, we kill it ussually by shooting a small metal rod through its skull and into the brain.
America kills about 23 million cows a day.
Is that going to stop you from eating Mcdonalds?
Of course not.
So who gives a shit about cats?
They are just another cog in the machine of human cruelty and ignorance.
Wont change today. Wont change ever. So no point about bitching about it.
Interesting article though.
Just move on with your life and ignore it because there will always be an unnesecary amount of blood spilt by the human race.
No one is putting their lives on hold. Bitching about it is not the point, it’s spreading the word of cruelty. Yes, America’s factory farming is equally, if not more atrocious. There will always be meat, there will always be slaughter. I am becoming a vegetarian, because meat is unhealthy, and if I’m eating it, I prefer it to be organic, where cows roam freely and live good lives. Beyond that, my point is that we need to be HUMANE even at the slaughter stage. And with the cats and dogs, I GIVE A SHIT, because they’re far more intelligent and feeling animals than cows (but not undermining cows). Even more horrfiic, is the WAY in which they are thrown around like trash, beaten, killed, which are all unnecessary and inhumane.
If everyone lives by your rules – not doing anything thinking you can’t change something, then nothing would be done. Organic farming would not be the new age, there would be no Endangered Species Act. That, my fellow blogger, is not the example you want to set for the next generation. If you believe in something, you can at least talk about it and try to find a solution.
Maybe you hate cats and dogs so this doesn’t concern you.
I am a cat lover. I have cats my self. I love animals too. I am a Chinese Canadian. I grew up in China. It disturbs me as much as it does to most of you. I know from newspaper and internet that there are some people out there trying to help or rescue those poor creatures. A doctor in Shanghai purchased a condo for the cats she rescued. I saw people dropped off food for the abandoned cats in Temple of Heaven last year when I was there before the Olympics. There were about 20 to 30 of them, most of them in bad shape. It is hard for me to think that most of them might be killed.
If you wonder why people can be so cruel, you have to know reason.
There are not many professional Veterinary Clinics there. Even though there are a few, most of Chinese people can not afford it. Most of Cats and dogs don’t get spayed or neutered. They are running loss and produce more and more. They don’t get vaccine and proper care. They carry deseases, sometimes these deseases even endanger humans. Once a while, especially for some important activities in the big cities, the government will issue an order to clean up the street. My family had a few dogs when I was little. They all ended up being killed, either volunarilly or by police (like some pics I saw here). I was traumatized every time.
In some area, like Canton, cat meat is regarded as delicacy. Last year, there was a truck loaded with cages of cats transporting to Canton was confiscated. There is a trading chain including stealing, collecting, transporting and purchasing and to the end users.
It is not a easy task to stop this in China. We need to educate people, being responsible when they decide to have a cat; teaching kids that animals are our friends; providing education funds to train more veterinians; getting those animals spayed or neutered.
I would love to help. I will try to find out if there is any non profit orgnizations for protecting animals there. There is no use to argue here. If you want to help, you should act.
We have developed specail bond with cats and dogs over thousands years. They are our best friends.
Lisa, what a thoughful commentary on this post. Thank you so much. And you are right on every count, we should act, and the first step is to spread the word and let people know this is happening and why. It might seem like we are arguing about it, but it’s a first step. There will always be people who don’t care or find it too difficult to comprehend – all the morals about this issue. Write to your government, to the government of those countries, and there are many many things we can do.
Lisa, i am horrified with crisis as well. I hope there is a way killing cats and dogs in China are to be illegal.
I think Lisa’s post simply proves how brutal and insensitive the Chinese government can be and how there must be a definite change. Not only that but it disproves the stereotypes surrounding mainstream Chinese culture:P
Thank you Lisa for your insightful comment!
This is so sad and cruel. I cant imagine people being this way towards animals. I am speechless and saddened deeply. This needs to stop right now!
i am also chinese, i am ashamed of my own country. but i must agree with some people that the stereotype “chinese eat dogs and cats” isnt exactly correct. as mrjoelunatic says we do keep some of them as pets. i think this is wrong that china slaughters animals and mistreat humans. china actaully has a great culture and history, but it has been ruined by the indiscriminate slaughter of animals and human mistreatment. i do hope this country starts thinking about their actions and acts smarter.
I can not agree with you more Kent, the country needs to start thinking in a far more humanitarian way. As of now, it seems that the governments actions refelct a very blunt and straightforward approach to achieve their means no matter the thoughts and feelings of others. Hopefully, this thinkign process will be replaced by the new generation:P China’s youth, especially in the urban areas that expereince the effects of globolization, will be much more suited to handling situations such as these in a much more humanatarian manner.
i think this is discusting and humans are not more impotant than animals! i think china need to sort it out i mean like look at those animals how would you like it if you where one of them!
i am just disgusted by this~
It is terribe. They have to be mental or ill to do that. poor cats and dogs and whatever will come next.
omg it hurts my feeling to know what they do to cats. i really love cats
I agree, we have the cognitive ability to choose whether or not to torture animals, but we aren’t the only animal that tortures. I have seen my own cats play with mice for extended periods of time. Isn’t their play torture? My cats stopped eating their prey years ago. Now they only kill for sport and play. The younger of my cats almost never kills the mice and moles he catches, preferring instead to catch and release his wounded, mutilated prey over and over again. I end up catching him in the act and have to kill the rodent myself.
This is terrible it is true, but there isn’t anything we can do about it. And why is it that there is an article about the cats that die, the cats being tortured, the cats being taken from their homes instead of an article about the millions of people dying, people being tortured, people being taken from their homes? The Chinese government evicted millions of peasants to make room for their big Olympic stadium. Do any of you care about that? Or are the ‘poor defenseless animals’ matter more? Don’t get me wrong, I love animals but I am also ashamed at the way America looked at animals as opposed to people. Rape or kill a child, go to jail for twenty years. Kill an animal, you’re never getting out of jail you monster! When did animals become more important? And where did this companion animal crap come from? Any animal can be a ‘companion animal.’ So if you have such a big problem with it maybe you should become a vegan and leave people alone. And Nancy, China doesn’t care if America hates them, China owns 90% of our industry anyways…
This is the place to discuss animal welfare issues. This is a blog about animals, environment, nature. Yes, the world is full of terrible things, and it’s discussed and written about in other places. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t care about things that you think we can’t do anything about, it may seem trivial to some, but everything’s connected. If people learn to start treating with animals with compassion, it can result in people treating people with compassion, too.
I Totally agree with you Janson……I myself am a vegetarian
I could understand you were an animal lover, until you completely contradicted yourself with the statement: ‘stepped on like rodents.’
Which, in context did not make sense whatsoever.
moo,
if you are so concerned with animal rights, then I don’t know why you criticize others for having sympathetic feelings for animals of any kind. She is obviously for your cause, for animal rights, and you need not discourage anyone who takes an interest in this area in any form. It seems to me like your interest in animal rights comes from more of a bitter place than a compassionate one. That goes for everyone who has attacked the author of this article. It is not meant to be an arguing point, and it is not putting value on cats over other animals; it is simply an informative article about one aspect of society in China. People who are for animal rights should work together – why all this negativity?
And in case you were wondering (since it matters so much to you), yes I am a vegetarian.
Thank you Laura. I was also thinking to myself — if you cared about animals, why would you discourage other anyone who is on your side? The thing about people is, things are not always so black and white.
And don’t get me wrong, I appreciate what you do, too. But not everyone can be an advocate for every animal. And cats need someone to be their voice, too. But keep up what you are doing. I am right there with you!
Everyone, this is not the place to be calling names. For those who have issues with this article, it was certainly not meant to offend, but to raise awareness about what’s going on in the world. Yes, human tragedy happens everywhere also, and don’t get me wrong, I also have something to say about that. BUT, PLEASE KEEP IN MIND, that this is a blog about animals. I chose to blog about animal welfare and that’s my right. So like Laura says, “why all t his negativity?”
Again, I have to reiterate the POINT of this post. Yes, I have issues with people eating cats, but Yes, I also understand that different cultures are entitled to their sustenance. HOWEVER, it is the way in which cats and dogs are slaughtered, without mercy. Whether I’m a vegetarian or not, that is not the point. Yes, I have issues with Western countries – the merciless way they kill livestock and how they suffer, and we are equally guilty. Again, to recap, this is about mercy, and this does not mean that I don’t care about anything else.
The above comment is for Kannan
alot of people are commenting that being people we have the right to eat whatever animals and that eating cat if no different than eating pigs of cattle, i agree that being human we can eat meat, what i don’t agree with is how we take so much that we don’t really need, and it discustes me how china seems to think that animal are on this earth for the soul purpuse to please them. the chinese take so animals lives inhumainly and pointlessly. the worst thing is that the chinese people are completely obliviouse. it’s not just cats either, it’s many animals…watch The Cove…it pretty much explains eveything that is wrong about how the chinese government treats animals
thanks for the thoughtful comment. The Cove is so sad.
i’m not a vegi but that’s wrong poor cats
Everyone is so quick to call this article hypocritical and say “if you eat chicken and cows then you are wrong to judge the Chinese blah blah blah”…but Jenny has to KEEP saying that if you actually read the article it is more poiting out that the way the animals are treated leading up to their slaughter is what is wrong with this picture, not simply the fact that Chinese people eat cats! I do eat some meat sometimes, I eat fish aboutt once a week for health reasons and very occasionally a bit of organic Chicken. I used to be a vegan and became very ill as I have Kidney problems so I’m not ignorant about the cruelty inflicted on other animals at all! I eat no other meats and I agree that the killing of any animal is best avoided and the way that farm animals are treated before they are slaughtered is absolutely sickening. I don’t think that the author of this post however, needs to be a vegetarian to make this point. The point is, whether they eat other animal meat or not, is that even if it is part of the Chinese culture to eat Cat, there are FAR more humane ways of putting animals to death. I personally think this is foul and shouldn’t be happening, but I have nothing against China and have every intention of travelling there one day. I am from England incase anyone is wondering
Phew. Thanks, Allie. I’m glad SOMEONE actually gets my point.
Hello i just really want to say they are sick men who think that cats are a bit of shit !!! and dogs they eat dogs .SOMTHINK has to be done it is so unexseptiable these skum bags doing this to cats and from my point i think animal have the same right to live as humons do they should be treated the same way i feel so sorry and sick from that picture sod the bluddy alimpic it trully make me feel visicly sick wot is rong with bluddy people they should be a shamed what they are doing to animals, animals you not be treated this way …..
I do care about people i do alot of charitys and most of them are for children and i also do alot of animal charitys i hate any crulty ……
Compassion and ethical treatment of all living things is indeed important, but get your facts right on Darwinism. Your use of ‘survival of the fittest’ is what the Nazi’s spun (successfully) that it is the survival of the strongest and most cunning. Darwin, however, meant that the fittest is the species that best adapts to a changing environment. It is the one that most successfully rears young able to have babies of their own. It is the little vole that hides in the bushes…
In this actual sense of Darwinism, the cats and the humans who would consume them are both successfully adapting.
I am all for having your own opinion and feelings, but no one is entitled to have their own facts.
Though animals should be treated with respect, that does not preclude them from being humanely harvested (I agree that the examples in your article are hideous and sick). To say that people who mistreat animals are, “missing a gene” is the EXACTLY the kind of rhetoric that is worthy of FOX news or other wing nuts that dismiss the animals’ rights to begin with. It perpetuates misinformation on the scale that the Nazis did. It sounds sophomoric to employ the exact logic as that of your antagonist, but to do so without any understanding is simply ignorant.
Maybe you are correct, we are all ignorant on some level. This is a personal perspective on animal welfare issues, and these are my views. People can agree or disagree. I do not state that these are facts, but indeed, I do not make things up if that’s what I’m being accused of. Maybe the choice of words in saying “Survival of the Fittest” contained misconstrued meaning, which is not my intention to compare this to Nazism. This is absurdity. And to add, animals and humans consuming them is not “adapting”. Adapting, like you say, is to changing environments, NATURAL environment. I would never say that if other predators (besides humans) tearing at another animal for food and game is the same as what we are doing. We hunt for game, not for survival. The Chinese eat cats and dogs for ridiculous claim that they are healing or aphrodisiac, and they breed dogs for fur and claim their product as “faux fur” on the market.
Your criticism is well articulated, therefore, I’m posting your comment. However, the tone in which you express your viewpoints is antagonistic, in particular, at someone who’s just trying to provide insights to what’s going on in the world of animals, and for the better.
Thanks for your comment.
Actually in response to the comment about “Survival of the fittest” was actually commented by someone else, not the author of this post.
what cruelty to those poor animals, where this world will stop people fight for other people who know and can defend itself, but what these poor animals who look for them? being HUMAN NATURE IS either on its own without feeling the cruel instinct THAT DISGUST!
This post has gotten a lot of readers to think that the Chinese as a people is horrible. I just want to state that this is not true. As I have said before, I will not visit China because of the animal issues there, but that does not mean I hate China and its people. I think for the most part, people are good, and many Chinese people live in impoverish places, and I feel for them. What we are trying to expose here is that the government does not do enough to enforce animal rights, and allow this type of atrocity to happen with too little care.
Those poor cats, I am an animal lover so I feel terrible. The China government is seeming like the Nazis.
All Countries have this flaw, by far of major flaws, I have to leave China as the top spot for that. (Followed by Turkey, the United States, And the Major powers of Europe combined)
This is so horrible! I can’t believe the nerve of these people! I have a cat and I love him very much! I could never have this happen to him. No matter what they said I would not let him die like this.
The guy who said all this was right!We are animals,we do want to eat SOME meat like duck,chicken,pig(for some)and fish to stay alive,but….*don’t no how to explain it*….nevermind….(sigh)…but you can’t get rid of them for your ownself like the olyimpic,what kind of person is it if the preson who get rid of them’s son was get rid?do he like it?
Well, all nations have their problems. Let’s not use bad language. It’s not the Chinese people, but just some and really it’s the policies that need to be enforced to end things like this. If no one regulates it and put the pressure on such acts, it is only natural for poor parts of any nation to do it, as it’s profitable, I presume, and and just easy.
Video to see the full sicking truth!
http://www.ptroa.co.il/petition/index.php
All you humans every where,.. Americans Europeans Africans, Asians and in between, You have caused so much cruelty on all your fellow creatures great and small, all of you someway or another has contributed to endless suffering and torture of our world quit the hypocrisy, band together and find a solution, quit thinking of yourselves, and money, eat vegetables, fruits, grains, and pray.
Its no surprise our world is crumbling to natural disasters world wars, famine. Just be ready for self destruction, Maybe that’s the only answer for all those suffering animals out there. And mans ongoing EGO!
I would love to add on to the comments that while you are all sitting at home living in luxury thinking about how humans have rights over animals you would be far from the truth. We are the only species that destroys the environment we live in, and at a disgustingly rapid rate. One life does not have more value over another, but if their was a choice we would draw the short stick. Not to mention that animals have the capabiility to love us unconditionally, no matter the flaw. Why is it they are able to see the good in us while we abuse their lives, because obviously what they see in us is a mere reflextion of themselves. If you are for the massacre of anything you may want to have a psychiatric evaluation because your a sadistic twist of a person. For the rest of us that see what life has to offer, keep spreading your compassion for we are a dropping number.
Well….wat i think bout dis is that its really fu*kin pathetic and definately not a humane behaviour… I saw sum videos online and had tears in my eyes….i agree dat eating a cattle isnt wrong but here wat i see is dat they r been killed for no reasons as well….the way they are killed is so awful and merciless…..those poor innocent animals hv done no crime…so y r dey getting such a cruel punishment……something really serious shud be done
I’m not going to post your comment, because it’s not constructive. But I will reply to you. Who are you to call me shameful – is that a bit too harsh? I simply care about animals, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about people. I happen to donate to Red Cross, to Haiti Relief, and also write about that. Don’t judge until you know someone for sure—think before you slander others.
I’m not going to approve this comment as it’s unproductive and contains slander against a whole race of people. That is not the point of this post.