GUANGZHOU, China – While animal lovers in Beijing protested the killing 
of cats for food, a butcher in Guangdong province, where felines are the main ingredient in a famous soup; just shrugged her shoulders and wielded her cleaver. "Cats have a strong flavor. Dogs taste much better, but kittens are the most tasty," said the butcher, Ho Huang. It was just this attitude that outraged about 40 cat lovers who unfurled banners in a tearful protest outside the Guangdong government office in Beijing. Many were retirees who care for stray felines they said were being rounded up by dealers. "We must make them correct this uncivilized behavior," said Wang Hongyao, who represented the group in submitting a letter urging the provincial government to crack down on traders and restaurants, although there are no laws against eating dogs and cats, or serving them in restaurants.
COMMUNIST STAND AGAINST PETS: The protest was the latest clash between age-old traditions and the new
sensibilities made possible by China's growing affluence. Pet ownership was once rare because the Communist Party condemned it as bourgeois and most people simply couldn't afford a cat or dog. The protesters' indignation was whipped up by recent reports in Chinese newspapers about the cat meat industry. On Monday, the Southern Metropolis Daily, a Guangdong paper famous for its exposes and aggressive reporting; ran a story that said about 1,000 cats were transported by train to Guangdong each day. The animals came from Nanjing, a major trading hub for cats, the newspaper said. They were brought to market by dealers on motorcycles, crammed into wooden crates and sent to Guangdong on trains. A photo showed a cat with green eyes peering from a crowded crate. Another photo showed a roasted cat being served at a popular restaurant in Guangdong. Chinese celebrities often make a point of being seen in public eating cats and dogs in order to curry favor with the Communist Party.
PET STEALING: Some people in Nanjing spend their days "fishing for
cats," often stealing pets, the report said. One cat owner in Guanghzou said people are afraid to let their pets leave the house for fear they will get nabbed. "It's never been this bad. Who knows, it might be because of the bad economy. I've heard that there are cat-nabbing syndicates from Hunan that are rounding up cats," said the man, who would only give his surname, Lai, because he feared the cat business might be run by gangsters. Animal protection groups have occasionally ambushed truck convoys loaded with bamboo cages filled with cats bound for Guangdong. In one recent case, hundreds of cats escaped after their cages were opened, though hundreds more remained penned in the vehicle. Lai Xiaoyu, who was involved in the attempted "rescue," said authorities couldn't stop the cat shipment because the traders said the animals were to be raised as pets. "The police did what they could, but there's little they can do to stop or punish those traders from shipping live animals," Lai said.
PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, issued a
statement Thursday decrying the cruel treatment. "China has no animal protection laws, and throughout the country scores of cats and dogs are bred or rounded up, crammed onto trucks and driven for days under hellish conditions to animal markets, where they are beaten to death, strangled or boiled alive," said a spokesman for the group, Michael V. McGraw. Guangdong is home to the Cantonese people, famous for being the most adventurous eaters in China. There's a popular saying: "The Cantonese will eat anything that flies, except airplanes, and anything with legs, except a chair." Zhu Huilian, a nutrition and food safety professor at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong's capital, Guangzhou, said people usually eat cat in restaurants, not at home. Dogs on the other hand, are often purchased at markets and then taken home and slaughtered. "Most Chinese prefer to gut and clean their own dogs, though it is becoming more common to let the butcher do all the work. This costs more money. In the rural areas, dogs are kept as livestock, and the puppies are grown to be eaten. The meat of a young dog is very tender and sweet."
ANIMAL CRACKERS: "There's a famous soup called 'Dragon, Tiger and
Phoenix,'" local cafe owner Wo Feng said. "It involves cooking snake, cat and chicken together." "We like serve soup with animal crackers. All have good laugh," said Cheu Wang, a local chop-shop cook. "In winter more people eat cats as they believe it's extra nutritious. I like cat only in soup. I prefer dog meat for cooking." The wide-ranging Cantonese culinary tastes are on display daily in Guangzhou, also known as Canton, in the Qing Ping Market. Shopkeepers sit behind cages full of writhing snakes, crates with puppies for sale, tubs filled with swimming turtles and plastic basins with mounds of scorpions crawling over each other. That's where the butcher, Ho Huang, sells her meat, sliced on a blood-soaked cutting board in a stall filled with cages of chickens and rabbits.
DOG CHOW: Hanging on a hook from its head — with its snout cut cleanly off — was a skinned dog with a long curly tail, paws with small
clumps of fur still on them and black claws. The dog's jaw bone was displayed in a metal tray beneath the carcass. "The cat meat we sell comes from legitimate sources," said Ho Huang. "It's from cat farms. The animals are raised the same way cows are." She said cat meat sold for about $1.32 a pound, while dog meat was cheaper, at about 95 cents a pound. Chicken was the best buy at 62 cents a pound, while lamb sold for about $1.32. Ho Huang said customers had to order cat meat a day in advance because it doesn't sell as well as dog. "Cat tastes a bit like lamb. I don't like it much," she said. "Young cats are tender, but the meat on the older ones is really tough. Usually old people like eating it. I like dogs better. I make very expensive, special dish with dog testicles, and that is powerful aphrodesiac to make men more potent. Next day, men come by and pay extra tip to me if they have great night in bedroom."
of cats for food, a butcher in Guangdong province, where felines are the main ingredient in a famous soup; just shrugged her shoulders and wielded her cleaver. "Cats have a strong flavor. Dogs taste much better, but kittens are the most tasty," said the butcher, Ho Huang. It was just this attitude that outraged about 40 cat lovers who unfurled banners in a tearful protest outside the Guangdong government office in Beijing. Many were retirees who care for stray felines they said were being rounded up by dealers. "We must make them correct this uncivilized behavior," said Wang Hongyao, who represented the group in submitting a letter urging the provincial government to crack down on traders and restaurants, although there are no laws against eating dogs and cats, or serving them in restaurants.COMMUNIST STAND AGAINST PETS: The protest was the latest clash between age-old traditions and the new
sensibilities made possible by China's growing affluence. Pet ownership was once rare because the Communist Party condemned it as bourgeois and most people simply couldn't afford a cat or dog. The protesters' indignation was whipped up by recent reports in Chinese newspapers about the cat meat industry. On Monday, the Southern Metropolis Daily, a Guangdong paper famous for its exposes and aggressive reporting; ran a story that said about 1,000 cats were transported by train to Guangdong each day. The animals came from Nanjing, a major trading hub for cats, the newspaper said. They were brought to market by dealers on motorcycles, crammed into wooden crates and sent to Guangdong on trains. A photo showed a cat with green eyes peering from a crowded crate. Another photo showed a roasted cat being served at a popular restaurant in Guangdong. Chinese celebrities often make a point of being seen in public eating cats and dogs in order to curry favor with the Communist Party.PET STEALING: Some people in Nanjing spend their days "fishing for
cats," often stealing pets, the report said. One cat owner in Guanghzou said people are afraid to let their pets leave the house for fear they will get nabbed. "It's never been this bad. Who knows, it might be because of the bad economy. I've heard that there are cat-nabbing syndicates from Hunan that are rounding up cats," said the man, who would only give his surname, Lai, because he feared the cat business might be run by gangsters. Animal protection groups have occasionally ambushed truck convoys loaded with bamboo cages filled with cats bound for Guangdong. In one recent case, hundreds of cats escaped after their cages were opened, though hundreds more remained penned in the vehicle. Lai Xiaoyu, who was involved in the attempted "rescue," said authorities couldn't stop the cat shipment because the traders said the animals were to be raised as pets. "The police did what they could, but there's little they can do to stop or punish those traders from shipping live animals," Lai said.PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, issued a
statement Thursday decrying the cruel treatment. "China has no animal protection laws, and throughout the country scores of cats and dogs are bred or rounded up, crammed onto trucks and driven for days under hellish conditions to animal markets, where they are beaten to death, strangled or boiled alive," said a spokesman for the group, Michael V. McGraw. Guangdong is home to the Cantonese people, famous for being the most adventurous eaters in China. There's a popular saying: "The Cantonese will eat anything that flies, except airplanes, and anything with legs, except a chair." Zhu Huilian, a nutrition and food safety professor at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong's capital, Guangzhou, said people usually eat cat in restaurants, not at home. Dogs on the other hand, are often purchased at markets and then taken home and slaughtered. "Most Chinese prefer to gut and clean their own dogs, though it is becoming more common to let the butcher do all the work. This costs more money. In the rural areas, dogs are kept as livestock, and the puppies are grown to be eaten. The meat of a young dog is very tender and sweet."ANIMAL CRACKERS: "There's a famous soup called 'Dragon, Tiger and
Phoenix,'" local cafe owner Wo Feng said. "It involves cooking snake, cat and chicken together." "We like serve soup with animal crackers. All have good laugh," said Cheu Wang, a local chop-shop cook. "In winter more people eat cats as they believe it's extra nutritious. I like cat only in soup. I prefer dog meat for cooking." The wide-ranging Cantonese culinary tastes are on display daily in Guangzhou, also known as Canton, in the Qing Ping Market. Shopkeepers sit behind cages full of writhing snakes, crates with puppies for sale, tubs filled with swimming turtles and plastic basins with mounds of scorpions crawling over each other. That's where the butcher, Ho Huang, sells her meat, sliced on a blood-soaked cutting board in a stall filled with cages of chickens and rabbits.DOG CHOW: Hanging on a hook from its head — with its snout cut cleanly off — was a skinned dog with a long curly tail, paws with small
clumps of fur still on them and black claws. The dog's jaw bone was displayed in a metal tray beneath the carcass. "The cat meat we sell comes from legitimate sources," said Ho Huang. "It's from cat farms. The animals are raised the same way cows are." She said cat meat sold for about $1.32 a pound, while dog meat was cheaper, at about 95 cents a pound. Chicken was the best buy at 62 cents a pound, while lamb sold for about $1.32. Ho Huang said customers had to order cat meat a day in advance because it doesn't sell as well as dog. "Cat tastes a bit like lamb. I don't like it much," she said. "Young cats are tender, but the meat on the older ones is really tough. Usually old people like eating it. I like dogs better. I make very expensive, special dish with dog testicles, and that is powerful aphrodesiac to make men more potent. Next day, men come by and pay extra tip to me if they have great night in bedroom."
