Just received from Joy Gao:
“On August the 31st, 800 cats were successfully rescued in Tianjin, China. In the early morning, volunteers of Tianjin Stray Animal Rescue Group discovered a place where cat-nappers were keeping stolen cats waiting to be transported. Through social networking like Weibao, more volunteers were able to get to the location and the police were called to help rescue the cats.
The police came in the afternoon. There were 40 cages, with over 20 cats in each cage. Some cats had already died due to the horrible conditions; some had given birth to babies, all of which had died. They were cramped inside small cages without any food and water. In the end, more than 50 cats had already passed away over the whole ordeal.
After negotiations between the police and local animal quarantine officers, all of the cats were released to the volunteers. They were moved with the volunteers to a shelter, where they were switched into more than 100 larger cages with water and food. [- shown in the picture above].
The volunteers worked tirelessly over night and over the next few days.
Our thanks and appreciation goes towards all volunteers and helpers in this rescue; it’s wonderful to see almost all of the stolen cats be saved. Thanks to the local police and animal quarantine officers and media for their support in helping the volunteers save the cats. There is still a lot of work to go; and food and medication has been donated from loving individuals for the cats.”
Translation by Joy Gao.
Pictures – of the deplorable conditions in which the cats were transported – available on this Chinese web site:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_a0c6229f01019r4t.html