Media coverage and discussion on social networks about the incident of the cat truck and the 1,600km journey to find the girl’s pet cat have raised public concerns about theft. cats and dogs in China.
The owner of the cat is a girl surnamed Zhang, living in Huzhou (Zhejiang, China), her cat got lost on January 5. “That day, my mother said that she did not see the cat anymore. Since the cat is raised in the countryside on a free-range basis, it normally comes home on its own after a day out. The cat hadn’t come home since the night before, so we thought it was lost.”
Truong’s Cat Man Tieu
The British cat, named Man Tieu, wore a tracking device around his neck when it disappeared, so Zhang traced the cat to neighboring Jiangsu province.
“Even if it gets lost or is taken by someone else, it can’t go that far,” Zhang said.
Truong suspected that his cat was stolen, so he informed the police. However, after reviewing the camera footage, the police said they could not find any convincing evidence of the theft, so they did not conduct an investigation.
However, Truong noticed that Man Tieu’s tracking device had moved further south and towards Guangzhou. She decided to track down the cat herself and flew to Guangzhou on January 7 because she suspected that this was the gathering place of the thief Man Tieu.
The truck is full of cats
“In the past, I saw on the internet that there were a lot of cat trucks, they were transported to Guangzhou. This afternoon, I discovered that the cat’s tracker had moved to Jiangxi province.” Seeing that the positioning had not stopped yet, Truong decided to go there in the night.
Before boarding the flight, Truong posted the story of losing his cat on social media to ask for help: “My cat has been stolen and is being transported to Guangzhou on the highway. Who can help me? What agency should I call when I arrive in Guangzhou?”.
Local cat rescue volunteers in Guangzhou saw the post and set up a WeChat group (Chinese messaging app) to help Truong find Man Tender.
While Truong was on the flight, local volunteers in Guangzhou found Man Tieu and several other cats in a truck.
“About 10 volunteers came to the scene to help me find the cat. Initially, they wanted to help me stop the cat truck, but they didn’t know the license plate and were afraid of danger,” Truong said. Boarding the plane, Truong discovered that the navigation had stopped, so the volunteers traced to this address. “It took them three hours to find the cat truck. The car was parked under a bridge in Baiyun district.” Man Tieu and two other cat breeds were found in the truck.
After finding Man Tieu, Truong contacted the local police and police from Songzhou police station in Baiyun district, Guangzhou arrived at the scene.
The container truck driver said that the cats were given by friends. Police did not file after investigation and the punishment for the cat driver is also unclear. The remaining cats were taken away by police and given to local animal rescue volunteers. They will publish the information, hoping the owner will come to claim them.
The cats on the truck were seized by the police and then handed over to the local dog and cat rescue team
“I was very lucky. The volunteers who helped me find the cat said it was a ‘miracle’ that I found it. In fact, many cats these days wear trackers, but they can be blinded. removed after being caught”. Truong added: “The locator device of the curtain is worn under the neck, it is quite difficult to see. Moreover, the cat is very fat, so it is lucky that it is not detected. Without this tracking device, I am really nothing else can be done.”
Truong shared with the reporter that she lost her beloved dog when she was young and always regrets this, which is the motivation to help her find her beloved cat at all costs.
Source: SCMP, Zhihu
