Recently, a dark industry involving an animal blood bank in Guangzhou was exposed. According to a blogger, unscrupulous operators are extracting blood from cats to make money, causing concern among the public.
The blogger revealed in a video that some illegal operators are treating stray cats as “mobile blood bags” on the streets, purchasing them for a few tens of yuan each. Each cat can yield approximately 3-4 packets of blood, which are then sold to pet hospitals or owners for around 800 yuan per packet. Within the industry, these cats are referred to as “blood cats.”
The video depicted a frail tabby cat with its front paws restrained by a hollow needle used for blood extraction, with blood being drawn out. As the cat’s blood supply decreased, the extraction speed slowed, leading the operator to even lift the cat’s hind legs to help the blood flow towards the front paws, a distressing sight for viewers.
According to public information, cats may require blood transfusions due to severe anemia resulting from blood loss, hemolysis, or hematopoietic disorders, or due to coagulation function impairment caused by poisoning, liver disease, among other reasons.
A volunteer engaged in pet protection expressed to mainland media that cat blood mainly comes from three sources: from their own cats or friends’ cats; from compassionate cat owners who donate blood from their own pets; and from commercial cat blood banks, which are comparatively more expensive.
The volunteer stated that a comprehensive pet blood bank system has not been established in China. Concerns have been raised about commercial cat blood banks due to the lack of effective supervision regarding the sources of these cats, their living conditions, and whether blood extraction is conducted in a regulated manner.
The incident has sparked public outrage online. Many netizens have voiced their shock and condemnation, with comments such as: “Organ trafficking is not exclusive to humans.”; “Even lifting the cat upside down to continue extracting blood at the end! It’s truly outrageous.”; “When I was young, I feared ghosts; as I grew up, I realized humans are more frightening than ghosts.”; “Aren’t Chinese people supposed to understand the pain of cruelty the most?”
“There have always been cat and dog meat shops in places like Guangdong and Hainan. I truly don’t understand.”,”Have no conscience; people can do anything for money.”,”Those individuals will face retribution.”; “Suddenly believing that someone will inexplicably fall ill.”; “We need to expedite the enactment of animal protection laws.”
Following the exposure of the incident, the original video was removed from online platforms due to its impact on city aesthetics.
In fact, in August 2023, an intern at the Veticin Pet Hospital in Guangzhou had previously disclosed that they were instructed to extract blood from cats and dogs, and that this blood was suspected to be sold. They provided evidence such as videos and chat screenshots. Most of the blood was extracted from healthy cats and dogs kept at the pet hospital without their owners’ knowledge. There were even instances where blood was drawn from dogs that were euthanized due to illness until no more blood could be extracted. Subsequently, the whistleblower was sued by the hospital for infringing their reputation and was demanded to pay 100,000 yuan, but the court dismissed the case.