300 cats rescued from menus in Guangdong

A group of cat lovers saved over 300 furry friends last night from being sold to restaurants in Guangdong Province after rescuing them from a cat dealer this weekend.

The volunteers said they had found 22 bamboo cages full of cats in a freight yard in the Minhang District. They had rushed to the yard after reading a tip posted to an online bulletin board and began breaking the locks on crates to free the cats.

From Shanghai Daily:

Yang Baoguo, a man who has traded cats for over a decade, said he purchased the animals from "hunters" who capture felines in residential areas at night.

The volunteers soon called police and the district's industrial and commercial authority...

Volunteers discovered hundreds of empty cages at the yard, apart from the ones filled with cats. Some started to use hammers to break the locks on the cages, irritating Yang. A fight broke out between Yang and some animal-lovers, but police quickly stopped it.

Yang was taken to a police station for questioning that night, but was released within a few hours.

Yang couldn't be charged with anything since a) eating cats is legal, and b) since they aren't required to be registered, it's hard to prove that the animals were stolen. The video shows the altercation between Yang and the volunteers. We're surprised nobody was hurt - except for the unfortunate cats.