this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
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[–] wahming@monyet.cc 62 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I see nobody in the comments actually bothered reading the article. It's not that cat meat is illegal, it's that they were passing it off as pork and beef. Also some speculation that the cats might have been stolen

[–] UnspecificGravity@lemmings.world 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also some speculation that the cats might have been stolen

Almost has to be the case. There is a reason no one farms cats as meat, they are obligate carnivores that will eat more meat than they ever produce. It isn't economical to produce cats for meat if you have to actually feed them. It only makes sense to "harvest" them wild on the streets or from kitten mills, shelters, vets, wherever you find spare cats in China.

Framing animals for meat only really makes sense if those animals eat lower on the food chain. Turning grass / grains into meat makes sense. Turning meat into meat doesn't, especially since the cats would pretty much have to be eating more desirable meat that they produce. Imagine feeding pork, fish, and chicken to cats in order to make cat meat.

[–] sizzler@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

That's where the stolen rats come in...

[–] Fosheze@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'm just wondering how you get enough meat off a cat that it's worthwhile. Most livestock are herbivores because herbivores are larger and much easier to feed. Cats are obligate carnivores, even if you're feeding them scrap meat you're going to wind up with them eating far more meat than they produce and I can't imagine that they produce much usable meat. It just seems like it would be easier and cheaper to just raise actual pigs than to try and get the same amount of meat off of a bunch of cats.

[–] UnspecificGravity@lemmings.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I doubt they are farming the cats so much as collecting them from the streets and everywhere else.

[–] Fosheze@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Even so rounding up a bunch of cats still seems like the most high effort way to get meat compared to literally any other animal. Even just talking about wrangling strays, dogs seem like a better choice because then you at least get a bit more meat. Cats just don't seem like they would have enough usable meat to even be worth the effort of butchering them. Unless these are some especially chunky feral cats, all the ones I've seen are basically just fur and bone.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's pretty easy to trap feral cats. Feral dogs are less common and harder to deal with. It really only takes bait as a recurring expense, at about say 10 cents per cage to get 1-2 pounds of meat that is worth at least $1per pound is pretty good return.

[–] Piemanding@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

They probably also get their children to do it and the cost of meat there is probably a good bit more expensive compared to income than somewhere like the US.

[–] Frozzie@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] wahming@monyet.cc 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

From the article, the crime is not that they are selling cat meat, but that they're mislabelling it as pork and beef

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

And doing so for profit...

[–] steven@infosec.pub -1 points 1 year ago

I read the title as "saving cats from being slaughtered and sold as [...] meat".. When will police start heroically saving the millions of pigs or cows from being sold as whatever meat?

[–] Dkarma@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago

God you guys are insufferable.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

So what is the police going to do with the cats now?

[–] SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Reminds me of this song I heard back in the 90s

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