From Apple Daily Taiwan:

Volunteers intercept vehicle transporting cats, pay money to save car full of cats

A truck carrying 500 cats was stopped recently by traffic police in China’s Jiangsu province, and volunteers from an animal center rushed over. To avoid the truckload of cats being sold to a restaurant, they aggressively negotiated a price with the truck driver, ultimately agreeing on 3500 RMB (approximately 16,300 TWD), to buy all 500 of the vehicle’s cats.

On Jiangsu’s Suzhou city’s Xu Hai road, a few days ago police were inspecting passing vehicles. The sound of cats came from one three-wheeled motor vehicle amongst them, but the owner said he was carrying a load of rabbits. When the police officer lifted the cover, he discovered the vehicle was full of house cats. Volunteers from the animal shelter rushed over after hearing the news, rushing to feed and pacify the frightened cats, negotiating with the vehicle owner, wanting to purchase all the cats. They first offered 2000 RMB, while the vehicles owner wouldn’t sell for less than 5000 yuan, but finally the two sides agreed on 3500 yuan.

Comments on Facebook:

Zi Lin:

With such a large population, why don’t mainlanders eat mainlanders?

兔兔:

Mainlanders eat everything, nothing is strange @@.

蕭艾:

A bunch of Chinese sickos.

Vikki Yang:

Human meat is even tastier!

芹澤雄一:

What do they plan to do to the cute cats?

血霖霖:

Please god make them go to hell.

Boss Chiu:

Were the people who purchased the entire vehicle’s 500 cats really animal volunteers/activists….?

龔耀賢:

When a truckload of pigs are taken to be sold, why doesn’t anyone come out to protest? Perhaps the lives of cats are more valuable.

Cheer Tseng:

So cows and pigs deserve to be eaten?

安琪兒:

Truly disgusting! People these days are becoming sicker and sicker! Eating cats, killing cats, microwaving cats, just what is going on?

陳希:

So frightening~ Why don’t they eat cockroaches instead! Eating kitties is too cruel!

What do you think? Are animal activists paying money to rescue these animals setting the right precedent? Or are they inadverntently creating a new market?