What do you think of the cat-eating tradition?
Eating exotic food is an old tradition in Guangdong. Older cats are said to taste best and are believed to keep those who eat them warm in the winter. Small food stalls and hot-pot restaurants still serve cat, though more and more young and well-educated people refuse to eat cats and dogs now. I'm definitely against such a bad tradition. Cats and dogs are pets for people. Eating cat meat is not generally accepted by the public. Besides, in terms of health, cats and their meat do not come from guaranteed sources so their safety cannot be assured. That's why we are calling on the public to refuse to eat cat and dog.
How bad is the situation?
On the news they claim thousands of cats are eaten in Guangdong every day. Because of the large demand in Guangdong, cats are being imported from other provinces such as Jiangsu , Anhui , Jiangxi and Hunan . On July 6, some animal protection activists stopped a truck in a Shanghai car park and found more than 800 cats in 42 small bamboo boxes. If they hadn't been found in time, the cats would have been delivered to Guangdong's restaurants. We were lucky to save those 800 cats. But how about those cats we don't know about? They may have been dead on arrival or dead on the dinner table.
How does Shenzhen Cat work?
I built a website called Shenzhen Cat Net in 2002 to share cute pictures and stories of my cats with other cat lovers. Gradually, over the last two years, Shenzhen Cat has started helping homeless cats by providing services such as medical treatment and sterilisation. Now we are looking at more areas, such as rescuing cats from traders and restaurants, calling for governments to legislate to prevent cruelty to animals, educating the public to reject cat meat restaurants and training volunteers.