A picture of the cat stuck in a rat trap was posted on Facebook. Photo: Facebook/Cat is cat
TAI PO, HONG KONG – A report on social media about a cat who was caught in a rat trap prompted animal lovers to flock all the way across Hong Kong to Tai Po Industrial Estate to try to set it free.
A post on a Facebook page dedicated to cat lovers stated that the animal was seen stuck in the trap with one hind leg immobilized by the spring-loaded bar Tuesday morning, news website hk01.com reported.
A netizen surnamed Hui was at the Tai Po site looking for the injured cat around the time hk01.com reporters arrived at the scene.
Hui, a taxi driver and an animal volunteer, was very disappointed to find only an empty rat trap with a bunch of cat fur stuck in it.
He was working in Causeway Bay but decided to rescue the cat after hearing about its sad situation.
The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals also sent staff to investigate, but they found no trace of the cat in question after searching the neighborhood.
The hk01.com reporters saw at least four or five rat traps placed on the ground with a tag on each stating: “Do not move this device. An experiment is being carried out by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.”
Elaine Chan Ling-yee of Cats Society (Hong Kong) Ltd. said the injured cat is approximately four months old and could have been lured into the trap by the use of bait.
Chan said anyone who sees a stray animal being caught in a trapping device should move the entire trap to a safer place and call a veterinary professional or independent animal rights group immediately for help.
The FEHD confirmed that it has indeed placed 50 animal traps in the vicinity in a two-week exercise to assess the pest situation at Tai Po Industrial Estate.
It said it did not see any cat in a trap during Tuesday’s routine inspection of any of the devices.
