A new day dawns for cats and dogs in southern China
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2011:
WUXI, China–Tipped off at 10 p.m. on August 3, 2011 that truckers planned to illegally haul a load of cats to live markets in Guangzhou, Guangdong at dawn, disguised as a cargo of furniture, members of the Wuxi Animal Protection Association in Jiangsu province mobilized overnight to intercept the truck at a toll booth at about 5:00 a.m. on August 4.
The truckers had nearly convinced the first authorities on the scene that the load was only furniture, but “Conveniently, right at that very moment, one little cat stuck her small head and shoulders out of one of the cages at the top of the truck, looking around curiously,” said a WAPA media release, translated by volunteer Joy Gao.
Police turned over to WAPA about 260 cats. The interception came just 10 days after WAPA freed nearly 400 cats following a similar incident.
Within Guangdong, meanwhile, Jiangmen city officials retreated from an announced plan to kill any dogs seen in public after August 26. Provoking a storm of protest, the plan was announced in response to the deaths of 42 residents from rabies during the past three years. “This planned cull is not scientific, not humane, and the results will not last,” responded Tang Qing, M.D., of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control & Prevention at the China Center for Disease Control. Tang Qing recommended a vaccination campaign instead.
