CATS and dogs rescued by netizens on Christmas Eve were in poor health and low spirits because of poor living conditions, yesterday s Chinese-language newspapers reported.
The 34 cats and dogs had symptoms of fever and parasitic diseases and were being treated at charity pet hospitals, a person in charge of the Vagrant Dog Post shelter, identified by her Internet name, Liulangdexinqing, said Sunday.
They had been living in poor conditions for a long time and had many diseases. Compared with their physical health, their mental health is much more difficult to heal. It will take a long time for them to recover from the fear of being killed, she said.
The animals were rescued by netizens from Szcat.org and Szdog.org and a law enforcement team in Bao an District. They were found at an unlicensed slaughterhouse in Shiyan Subdistrict which supplied restaurants.
We hope all rescues can be done together with netizens and government departments. Taking action alone is never encouraged, she said.
Many residents called the Daily Sunshine on Sunday, offering to adopt the animals or donate money to help. I was too angry to eat my lunch after reading the story. They were all small, poor creatures and I hope I can buy some food for them. I suggest government departments take more action to shut down these illegal places and fine those people heavily, a reader surnamed Song said.
The law enforcement team did not know what to do with the slaughterhouse because there was no law against slaughtering cats and dogs without a license. What we can do right now is demolish the buildings which are illegal, an unidentified officer said.
According to the city market supervision administration, there were no standards to quarantine cat and dog meat. The biggest problem is that killing and selling cats does not violate any law, an official from the administration said.
(Wang Yuanyuan)
