‘Pet mystery box’: China’s dog and cat mail-order craze causes new outrage
- More than 150 cats and dogs shipped around China by an illegal business selling surprise pets
- Animal rights activists exposed the operation and found dead cats at the courier station where it was based
Chengdu Municipal Postal Administration in Sichuan province revealed this week that it had launched an investigation into courier operation Hehuachi Station of ZTO Express for sending live animals through the postal system.
Volunteers from Chengdu Love Home Animal Rescuing Centre found workers at the delivery station had packaged a total of 156 cats and dogs into separate boxes before couriering them in vans, state media CCTV reported.
When the volunteers arrived at the station in the city’s Jinniu District earlier this week they were greeted by screeching animals. The animals were found wrapped up in boxes with plastic bags, making it difficult for them to breathe. The volunteers also found four dead animals.
“Once the doors of the van close, the animals in it will definitely be suffocated to death,” Chen Yulian, founder of the animal centre said. Chen said the delivery station did not feed the animals before delivery to prevent them from defecating during transit. She added that when animals died during transportation, workers would just dump the bodies on the side of the road.
China Youth Daily reported that the animals were sold by Chengdu Sanlian Flower and Bird Market as “pet mystery boxes” to online customers.