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Alice Yan

Animal lovers in China have been horrified to discover several dead or injured cats that had been shot with steel darts.
Volunteers found a stray on August 13 in Qinqin Home, a residential block in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province in the east of the country, that had 10 steel darts embedded in its head, chest, and back, Zhejiang TV reported.
They rushed the dying feline to a veterinary clinic, but it lost its battle for life after 90 minutes of emergency treatment.
Local residents said the stray cat had been living in the community for three years and was known for its gentle disposition. Volunteers had taken it to be spayed and vaccinated.
On August 14, two other stray cats were found shot by the same method. A two-month-old kitten, weighing less than one kilo, had injuries to its head and chest, while another had a dart in its tail.

Vets operated on the kitten’s chest and transferred it to intensive care, while the other had surgery to remove the dart and was in a stable condition, the report said.
Volunteers also found a decomposing cat with a dart in its body in the community.
A woman who lives there told the media she believed the darts were fired by blowing.
“Shooting stray cats with darts is unforgivable. I am furious. I want to find whoever did this and report them to the police,” she said.
A Zhejiang-based online influencer who uses the alias pinjunsanzhimao on Douyin, who rescues strays, said she hoped the incident would be handled by the judicial authorities.
“We are afraid more cats will be hurt, and what if he shoots humans one day? The offender must be punished for the sake of those innocent animals and the safety of the local community,” the blogger said.
The report said a suspect, believed to be in his early 20s, had been “put under police control”.

It is not clear whether the man, believed to be the son of a state-owned shipping company executive, will be punished.
Stray cats are categorised as feral under the China Wild Animals Protection Law. As such, they are not protected by the country’s Anti Animal Abuse Law.
The abuse of animals frequently makes headlines in China.
In early August, a man in Fujian province in the southeast of the country was investigated for killing a stray cat after he splashed it with an unidentified liquid that burned its skin and seriously damaged its liver and kidneys.


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