Claws out over China cat meat scandal

On 28 October, it was reported in The Beijing News that local police in the eastern city of Tianjin had found a "common courtyard house with more than 200 cats crowded into very small cages". According to the report, "several villagers said that the 'feline house' had been leased to someone from outside the area for two to three years".

Cats sold for meat alongside ducks in a market in East Asia

The news went viral after it was posted on the popular microblog Sina Weibo by influential papers the Yangtse Evening Post and Huaxi Metropolis Daily. Both said rescue teams had confirmed that the cats were to be shipped to Yunnan, Guangdong and Shandong provinces to be used as food.

View of Chinese city Tianjin from the Tianjin Tower

Since then, Chinese social media users are buzzing with outrage at news that a "feline house" in Tianjin has been keeping cats to be sold for human consumption. Within two days, the hashtag #CatMeatUsedForHamAndKebabs had become a Sina Weibo trend. Posts using the hashtag have reached more than nine million, and more than 5,000 social media users have actively used the hashtag to discuss the story.

A poster of Sina Weibo

They have raised concerns over food hygiene and many have posted pictures of their own pets to raise awareness. Said one social media user,

"What is happening to our country, why are there always problems with food and drink?"

Meanwhile another user commented,

"I do not understand how some people cannot tell the difference between an animal companion and food.”

Chinese cuisine that does not feature cat or dog meat

State media reports say two men have been detained and that "the matter is under investigation".

The country has already come under fire for a similar cat meat scandal and its annual dog meat festival. In February 2014, The Beijing News reported that police had found cages containing stray cats in Beijing suburbs, and "traders claimed that they caught cats to be sold on as food". The news prompted outrage among many social media users at the time.

Yulin in Guangxi, China – home to the Yulin Dog Festival

China was also the subject of international criticism last June for going ahead with its annual Yulin Dog Festival in southern Guangxi province. The event, which sees as many as 10,000 dogs slaughtered for meat, has also been increasingly criticised at home. In June, many users took to Sina Weibo to call for a permanent ban on dog and cat meat.

(All images - credit: Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons licence)