http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...rs-feed-Cantonese-taste-for-pet-delicacy.html
Cat-nappers feed Cantonese taste for pet delicacy
A curiosity about the taste of cat meat is fuelling a growing industry in China.
Cat-nappers feed Cantonese taste for pet delicacy
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Activists from the Ping-An-A-Fu animal shelter raid a Nanjing cat market Photo: MALCOLM MOORE
By Malcolm Moore in Nanjing
10:59PM GMT 01 Jan 2009
In Nanjing's north-western suburb of Pukuo, a hut stands in a field of rubbish.
The only clue to what goes on there is the pile of empty wooden crates at the back and the steel bars over the windows. Inside, there are crates full of cats, waiting to be shipped to the southern province of Guangdong, where they will feed a growing curiosity about the taste of cat meat.
At the back of the shack, a man sitting on a makeshift bed was warming himself next to a charcoal brazier.
"We collect 40 to 50 cats a day here," he said. "We ship them out when we have 100."
"We make around eight mao (8p) on each cat, after our costs. We buy them for 10 renminbi (£1) and sell them for not much more."
Each night, a train loaded with thousands of cats in crates heads south from a freight depot in Nanjing.
Chen Shi, 20, a mechanic working in a neighbouring shop, said the depot had been in operation for three or four years. "The cats scream all night," he said. "Residents called the police but there's nothing illegal about it, so they couldn't do anything."
The fondness for eating dogs in northern China is well known, but cats are also prized in the country's south. One of the most famous Cantonese dishes is "Tiger and Dragon locked in Battle", in which the flavours of cat and snake vie for attention.
The Cantonese appetite has already made cats scarce and expensive in Guangdong itself, forcing restaurants to look elsewhere for a steady supply. Nanjing, with its excellent transport links and central position in China, has emerged as the hub of cat trading.
"There has definitely been an increase. There are far fewer cats around," said Chen Nanyan, 27, an activist with the Ping-An-A-Fu animal shelter.
"Because of the bad economy, more and more people have turned to cat-snatching. You don't need to be skilled – you just bait a box with some meat and wait.
"It happens all over Nanjing. There is nothing illegal about taking cats. If you try and call the police, they will not help you. You can take cats with collars without any problems."
She and other volunteers carry out raids on the cat markets, smashing boxes and liberating the animals when they can.
Ha Wenjing, Nanjing's leading animal rights activist, said the fascination with cat meat was down to its reputed, but vague, medicinal value.
"Actually the meat is not so delicious. And the chefs cook it for fun, to try to see if they can make it taste nice," she said. "Curiosity killed the cat, as it were.
"The thing I am worried about is if the government catches on and turns this into an industry in order to make money. That is what happened with dog meat, and now you can find dog farms."
http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pict...prepared-served-in-guangzhou-restaurants.html
“Boiled Alive Cat” Prepared, Served In Guangzhou Restaurants
206 comments by Fauna on Tuesday, October 12, 201
[many many pics]
“Boiled Alive Cat” Prepared, Served In Guangzhou Restaurants
206 comments by Fauna on Tuesday, October 12, 2010
A stew in Guangzhou, China with cat meat.
From Tiexue & Mop:
Shocking, the entire process of how Guangzhou restaurants make boiled alive cat
[Warning: Pictures may be graphic.]
Cat traders with caged cats in China.
Cat restaurants hidden on the outskirts of town, “boiled alive cat” attract people’s attention
Cat meat 10 yuan/500g, cat brain 30 yuan/500g, cat intestines 50 yuan/500g
What is “boiled alive cat”?
Cook: “[The cat] cannot be completely beaten to death, [because] it also needs to be boiled a little, this is what ‘live cooked cat’ is.”
Why do so many people like eating cat?
Cat eater: Eating cat meat can cure asthma, is a health supplement [something eaten for health benefits].
A stray cat wholesale market has over a thousand cats packed into metal cages.
Caged cats to be sold for their meat.
The majority of the cat trade is sold to Guangdong, because in Lingnan cuisine, Guangdong people [Cantonese] especially like to eat cat; It first became popular in the Chaozhou-Shantou region. Cat meat has been traditionally believed to be effective for helping a person’s yin and yang balance, whereas recorded in Guangdong Yue cuisine recipies is a dish called “Long hu dou” [literally, "dragon fighting tiger". The reason why cat meat is held in esteem lies in the naive belief of its eaters that it has a "health supplementing/boosting" effect.
Caged cats in China, awaiting their fates to become food.
Heartbreaking innocent expressions, awaiting the fate of being eaten.
A cat having its fur removed and gutted.
Below is the process of cooking cats. Cat lovers, please prepare yourselves.
A "cat restaurant" cook holds up a white cat from the fur-removal machine.
To show what a good deal it is, a house cat with its fur removed is hung on a hook publicly to be weighed.
A cat being boiled alive and its internal organs removed.
Still breathing house cat put in boiling water and cooked alive.
Cook removes the internal organs of the "white cat".
Dead cats in China, one hung on a hook by the jaw.
A woman roasts a cat's head with a torch. A chopped up cat.
Cantonese diners eating a cat stew, a paw still visible in the dish.
Do you see it? The cat's paw is still in here.
Netizens urge each other to forward these photos and reports of cats being eaten in Guangzhou, China.
"Express" reporter also discovered in an interview: To guarantee the freshness of the cat meat, most cat meat restaurants have adopted "live cooked cat", "beating", and similar methods of slaughtering live cats. "The more suffering, the better the taste. Doing it like this is to ensure that the blood is fully soaked into the flesh, and that the flavor of the cat meat prepared tastes great."
Those who have scrolled this far to read these words, please forward/repost this on, and pray for these shameless diners, because you [they, the diners] will suffer retribution in the future!!!
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