Cracking down on cat meat trade

Rescued cats staying at an animal shelter in Taicang, Jiangsu province. — AFP

WHEN Han Jiali’s beloved cat Dabai was taken from her Shanghai home last year, she embarked on a hunt for her pet that took her deep into the bowels of China’s underground feline meat trade.

Most people in China do not eat cat meat, but an estimated four million furry friends are slaughtered for food each year in an illegal market that includes areas of Guangdong province, neighbouring Guangxi and beyond, according to Humane Society International.