An industrial-scale cat slaughterhouse within the Dong Thap province of Vietnam, capable of slaughtering as a lot as 500 harmless cats a day, has ceased all operations following landmark intervention from the authorities.
The slaughterhouse, which has been in enterprise for more than a decade, has been topic to two police raids in current weeks, during which its homeowners were discovered to not have the required paperwork. Over 5 tonnes of frozen cat meat was subsequently destroyed in entrance of the pleading house owners, putting the unauthorised facility out of enterprise.
The case has been hailed as a milestone second for animal welfare in Vietnam by Soi Dog Foundation International, a Thailand-based animal welfare organisation who’re combating for an end to the dog and cat meat commerce across Asia and is supporting the care of 197 cats rescued from the slaughterhouse.
“This is the first time we now have seen an operation of this scale dealt with in this manner, and we’re extraordinarily happy with the finish result,” stated a spokesperson from the muse. The cats found on-site are protected and receiving the urgent medical care they want. Though extraordinarily distressed at first, 90% of the cats are actually pleasant and affectionate – and lots of are already sterilised – leading us to consider they’re much-loved pets stolen to be offered into this barbaric commerce.”
The now-defunct Dong Thap slaughterhouse might slaughter as a lot as 500 cats a day using industrial machinery. A brutal finish, their throats had been reduce, their bodies thrown into vats of boiling water and their coats removed utilizing ‘defurring’ machines.
Described in the local press as “super thieves” and “pet killers,” the homeowners coordinated a gentle provide of cats via their business, each stolen pets as nicely as free-roaming strays which they trapped using crude do-it-yourself snares. Some cats had been slaughtered, frozen and then sold for medicinal use and consumption, while others had been crammed into cages alive and shipped thousands of kilometres on the market and slaughter in northern Vietnam and China, the place demand is way larger than in the South.
Repeat offenders, the owners had been fined by the authorities before. Undeterred and with out remorse, they were able to resume the slaughter and sale of cats simply days later. However, with their supplies now destroyed and ongoing police surveillance in place, Soi Dog Foundation is confident that this recent intervention marks the tip of their enterprise once and for all.
Devastatingly, although, Dong Thap is simply the tip of the iceberg in relation to this trade in Vietnam, the place the variety of cats and canine slaughtered yearly is believed to run into the hundreds of thousands.
“Fuelled by the profitable end result on this case, we will proceed to battle for the creation of a legal framework in order that similar operations may be focused and cats and dogs are now not subjected to this unimaginable cruelty anywhere within the country,” mentioned Soi Dog Foundation’s spokesperson.
Value has been declared the Year of the Cat in Vietnam, with cats hailed as symbols of safety and good luck. It is time they were treated accordingly.”
The foundation successfully put an finish to the canine and cat meat commerce in Thailand in 2014 and is working with the Hanoi Department of Animal Health to attain the identical in the Vietnamese capital and beyond. With the consumption of cats rising more and more well-liked in Vietnam, and the methods of slaughter unimaginably merciless, the foundation is set to raise consciousness of the commerce and help introduce robust laws to shut it down.
Aside from the cruelty involved, the dog and cat meat commerce is also considered contributing towards the spread of rabies in Vietnam. Despite funds allotted in the course of eradicating the illness by 2030, the state of affairs inside the nation is only worsening based on recent information stories.
A Soi Dog Foundation spokesperson said…
“As lengthy because the dog and cat meat commerce continues, it will be inconceivable for Vietnam to turn out to be rabies-free. Stolen from outdoors loving homes and the streets earlier than being transported in terrible conditions and slaughtered in plain view of each other using the crudest strategies – every level of the trade entails close contact between people and these extremely scared animals and subsequently potential publicity to this deadly illness.”