A group of animal lovers rescued nearly 700 cats that were headed for a slaughterhouse when they saw two suspicious lorries carrying the poor felines tied up in sacks in the back or stuffed in cages.
Heart-rendering footage shows countless cats crying in obvious pain and distress while trapped aboard a lorry in Suzhou, in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province, on Saturday, 8th June.
Concerned locals who apparently heard the loud meowing intercepted the vehicle from the footage at a temporary storage point where it had briefly stopped before reaching the slaughterhouse.
Some of the cats were being kept in tiny wooden chicken cages from which rusty nails protruded, causing them external injuries.
The locals immediately contacted the police and then called the Nanjing Stray Animal Rescue Centre.
Staff from the rescue centre immediately rushed to the scene. Upon separating the cats, they found 93 dead, but 309 surviving cats that have since been properly housed.
In the nearby city of Wuxi, another group of volunteers also intercepted a lorry transporting cats, saving 377 cats.
As the drivers in both locations were unable to provide the required documentation, the market supervision department has launched an investigation.
Nearly 700 cats have been safely housed in the Nanjing rescue centre.
Authorities suspect a lot of the animals were likely pets stolen out of people’s homes.
The two lorry drivers could now be facing legal consequences for theft as well as animal abuse given the number of dead or injured cats.
Online commentators like ‘Qingqing’ said: “Another truckload of cats, a shameless cat dealer.”
And user ‘Heena’ said: “It’s so annoying. Why doesn’t anyone care?”
While the user ‘Exquisite’ said: “Thank you to the rescuers for their hard work. I hope China will legislate for stray animals as soon as possible!”
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below. Story By: Aloysius Fernandes, Sub-Editor: Simona Kitanovska, Agency: AsiaWire Report
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