150 cats die in Beijing blaze

Beijing : An early morning fire at the house of an elderly animal lover killed about 150 stray cats she had looked after over the years, a media report said.

The cats died of suffocation or burns Friday morning as they had no way of escaping the burning residence of 84-year-old Ding Shiying in downtown Beijing, reported Xinhua citing the Beijing Morning Post.

A neighbour said she heard Ding scream for help and called the fire department. Firemen put out the blaze before it spread to Ding’s bedroom, which housed another 30 dogs and 50 cats.

Ding, fondly called Granny Ding, started to adopt stray cats in the early 1980s but has recently struggled to look after them since her health deteriorated when she turned 80.