Lifeless puppies and kittens in crates reveal the darkish facet of China’s thriller field craze
As a flashlight rolls over towers of boxes in the back of a delivery truck, tufts of fur can be glimpsed through tiny air holes. Those are the luckier animals — other boxes appear completely taped up.
Animal rights group Love Home filmed this raid on May 3 in the central Chinese city of Chengdu, during which it uncovered 156 boxes of months’ old puppies and kittens, some of whom were dead.
The images scandalized Chinese social media users, who were horrified the animals had become victims of a shopping craze sweeping China called “mystery boxes.”
That has turned the boxes into big business. In December, mystery box maker Pop Mart, whose boxes contain cute, plastic figurines, raised $676 million in its initial public offering. That month, the state-run China Daily newspaper said the mystery box industry could be worth 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) by 2024, citing an industry report.
But there’s a darker side of the trend.
While delivery of live animals by mail is illegal in China,…
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