Humane Society International (HSI) said in a statement that the cats were kept in rusty cages in the city of Jinan in Shandong province.
According to an activist from local animal advocacy group VShine, the criminal organization placed sparrows in cages to attract cats and closed the traps by remote control.
“It was shocking to see the condition they were in. Many of them were weak and crying,” says Huang, another activist cited in the HSI report. “The discovery of dozens of live sparrows used as bait to attract cats was a big surprise, but it demonstrates the lengths to which these criminals will go,” he added.
There, activists found 31 sparrows, a protected species in China, which were later released. Most of the rescued cats were pets and were sent to animal shelters, the report said.
China has no specific law to punish violence against animals. However, suspects may face justice for poaching birds, stealing cats or violating animal disease prevention regulations.
About ten million dogs and four million cats are killed for human consumption in China every year, according to the HSI.
Dog or cat meat is considered a delicacy in some parts of China, meaning the trade is lucrative enough to encourage criminal gangs to steal domestic animals.
However, these meats are rarely consumed in China due to the increasing number of pets.
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