So I learned more and became even more aware of where things came from - I look at it as a way to honor the many pets that were poisoned by the tainted products.

I’m at the point now where I even hound my doctor and pharmacists about where my medication and vitamins are produced. I’ve eaten organic for many years, local as much as possible, but see that a lot of organic frozen veggies are being shipped from China now. Oh I bet they really are strict about their organic certification too!! (Rolling eyes)

I refuse to contribute to their reign of terror and do so by intentionally not purchasing products labeled “Made in China” - they might slip a couple things by me with some “creative” labelling but I’m getting pretty good at reading the fine print (or in some cases the no print!! That for sure is a signal it’s not something I want - lol)

It is NOT easy to shop sometimes but it is something I feel strongly about: China has no regard for their own people so they certainly have even less for me and my family. I have no intentions of supporting them economically for that attitude either!

I’m very sorry to read about the cat situation and how it is being addressed - just one more reason for me to reaffirm my now long-term committment to boycott China.

It just upset me when I read that … I couldnt help but think ‘how dare someone critisize this poor woman for doing all she can….’
it made me angry for her to be referred to as a hoarder when there are obviously very FEW people willing to go out of their way and care for the strays in china. The only kind of label that she deserves to carry (in my opinion) is ‘one of the few CARING souls’ of china, certainly not hoarder…

I don’t think anyone is condemning Hu Yuan. I am sure she is doing this out of love and compassion. It is an observation and a comment made by someone from another site.

Anyone who has 250 cats in an apartment obviously has their reasons, but sometimes they do not see that living that way may be unsustainable. Perhaps I would do the same in her situation. I have my own gaggle of cats at home and my mother has more than I, so I don’t just pay lip service to saving cats. The worst part about a situation like Yuan’s, and I have seen this happen many times working for an animal shelter; a well meaning, senior has many pets and upon death, no-kill shelters are scrambling to find spaces for them because their relatives don’t want the SPCA to put them down. It is one thing to re-home 10 or 20 animals, but something quite different when you are talking about 250.

I commend anyone for taking on the cause of saving animals, but there has to be a realistic plan for the cats’ sustainability and health, and support for the individual who is caring for them. Hu Yuan may be a sane hoarder (I think we use that term because it is not the norm to house so many cats in such a small space, not because we want to villify her). Other agencies in China are saving cats as well, but they have procured a facility or have arranged for foster homes until the cats are adopted and do not take more than they can realistically look after.

I have personally known an individual who had 2 dogs, 4 ferrets and 22 cats in a 900 sq. ft. home and even though the entire family of four pitched in with feeding and cleaning, it was a full-time job. They had put up shelves on their kitchen walls for the cats to sit on and the pariah cats lived on the television set because they were too afraid of the others. With that many in such a small space, there are bound to be territorial issues.

These cats were cared for impeccably. They all saw the vet when necessary and none of them went without love. But that was 22 between four people. None of us know the Yuan situation, but I can only imagine what the workload might be like. Bless her for trying. I invite you to read about others that have been in this situation (Bertha Rand — 50 cats, Donna and Jack Wright — up to 692 cats), and they both just started out not wanting to turn them away at the door for fear that they would be put down. You may enjoy a book called “Cats I have known and Loved by Pierre Berton.

Good on you to take Yuan’s side. Not everyone should play devil’s advocate.

You complain about what they are doing to the poor animals…..

and yet you STILL complain about ONE poor soul that’s just trying to help the animals because she DOES care! Instead you call her a hoarder….

Hu Yuan..AGAIN I say ‘Thank you’ for doing as much as you can.

Some people are afraid to do more or just REFUSE to do more so out of fear of making themselves look bad for not doing MORE they call others ‘hoarders’

Some sick way of justifying your OWN laziness maybe….

The U.S. supports bringing in all their toxic crap. It makes me sick!

I wonder what a Hindu would think of the case at Hallmark Meats with the abuse of the downed cows?

Getting off topic, and making no apologies for North American abuses. What I wanted to say was that (and I love Best Friends), the article seemed apologetic that we would even consider pointing fingers, yet to quote: “Irene Zhang, Manager of Animal Rescue Beijing, and a friend of Best Friends, has written that Ms. Wu, the Founder of Animal Rescue Beijing, has talked with the managers of the parks in Beijing, and was told that they are no longer seeing cats being trapped by the authorities, and that that activity has stopped.”

That sounds like an acknowledgement (at least through a friend of a friend of a friend) that a roundup was taking place. And the links leading to the atrocities in the Chinese food industry somehow also seemed dissonant after denials about this story that’s circulating on the net and being repeated in blogs and which will show up in Snopes sometime soon as an urban legend…