1,000 cats saved from dinner table in China - only to be let loose in forest by govt officials

This picture taken on November 1, 2013 shows rescued cats in a cage in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu province. Animal activists are combing a forest in eastern China for more than 1,000 kittens rescued from a meat supplier only to be let loose by the local authorities, an organiser said on Monday. -- FILE PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING (AFP) - Animal activists are combing a forest in eastern China for more than 1,000 kittens rescued from a meat supplier only to be let loose by the local authorities, an organiser said on Monday.

Animal protection volunteers and local police intercepted a truck "filled with cats" destined for dinner plates last week, said an activist surnamed Ni from the Wuxi Small Animal Protection Association in eastern Jiangsu province.

But local government officials released the felines - some as young as four months old - into a nearby mountain forest to fend for themselves, Mr Ni said.

"They were being sent to Guangzhou to be eaten by people," he told AFP.