- The proprietor was given a one-time grant by a charity to start out a grocery as a substitute
- An estimated a million cats are killed for meat in Vietnam annually
A restaurant that drowned 300 cats a month to gas Vietnam’s merciless meat commerce has been closed for good.
The Gia Bảo restaurant in Thai Nguyen metropolis, within the nation’s northeast, ran a profitable commerce promoting cats, seemingly together with stolen pets, drowned in a bucket one after one other.
For 5 years, Pham Quoc Doanh, 37, ran the institution after struggling to feed his household promoting ‘different regular meals and drinks’.
‘It was then I attempted promoting cat meat since there was no different available restaurant serving this within the space,’ he instructed Metro.
Doanh reached out to the Humane Society International, campaigning to ban the commerce in Vietnam, who provided him a one-time grant to arrange a grocery retailer as a substitute.
On December 6, he symbolically tore down the banners exterior his slaughterhouse and restaurant and commenced a brand new life.
‘For some time now I’ve felt a real need to go away the merciless cat meat business and swap to one thing else as quickly as doable. When I consider all of the hundreds of cats I’ve slaughtered and served up right here over the years, it is upsetting,’ he mentioned.
‘Cat theft is so frequent in Vietnam that I do know most of the cats bought right here had been somebody’s liked household companion, and I really feel very sorry about that.’
An estimated a million cats are killed annually for his or her meat in Vietnam, in keeping with the charity – regardless of 71 per cent of the inhabitants favouring a ban.
Many pets, and a lot of strays, are stolen to feed demand for the profitable commerce of cat meat, believed to have aphrodisiacal properties in some elements of the world. Cat meat is cooked in all kinds of dishes together with stews, fried and grilled varieties.
Polls present that an astonishing 87 per cent of individuals have both had a pet stolen or have an acquaintance whose pet has been stolen in Vietnam.
Law enforcers are struggling to crack down on pet theft as cats and dogs are more and more stolen and trafficked to feed demand in a small however high-spending market.
In 2018, brokers intercepted 9 cooler containers containing almost one ton of frozen cats travelling between Dong Nai province within the south and Thai Binh province within the north.
Through their Models for Change programme, the HSI helped to avoid wasting twenty cats and kittens from being drowned on the slaughterhouse in Vietnam.
The scheme was launched final yr after discovering success in South Korea since 2015, which not too long ago introduced plans to ban consuming canine by 2027.
They mentioned Doanh received in contact after they labored with a neighborhood canine meat restaurant proprietor, seeing a approach out of the business.
HSI rescuers eliminated traumatized cats from the Thai Nguyen property on the ultimate day of business and watched as Doanh tore down the restaurant’s ‘cat meat’ signage.
The cats have since been vaccinated and handled earlier than they are often put up for native adoption and rehomed.
Quang Nguyen, Humane Society International’s Viet Nam companion animals and engagement program supervisor, mentioned: ‘We are thrilled to be closing down our first cat meat commerce business in Viet Nam, and hope it will likely be the primary of many as extra folks like Mr. Doanh flip away from this merciless commerce.’
The former proprietor has gone on to open his personal store promoting items to his area people, HSI confirmed to MailOnline in the present day.
‘Mr Doanh instructed us he was wanting to discover a approach to supply for his household that did not imply he needed to kill animals as a result of he could not carry himself to do it any longer,’ a spokesperson mentioned.
‘And he additionally instructed us that he hopes when the information will get out, that different canine and cat meat merchants will really feel impressed to do the identical, and that his actions contribute to Vietnam ending the merciless trades altogether.’
‘Although most Vietnamese folks do not eat cat meat, the idea nonetheless persists that consumption can treatment dangerous luck, and the dimensions of the struggling is astonishing.
‘These 20 fortunate cats and kittens have escaped a horrible destiny and can be discovered loving properties, however our work continues to see a nationwide ban on the cat meat commerce that brings such ache and misery to so many.’
HSI will proceed to work with canine and cat merchants to assist them go away the trade whereas working with native authorities on actions geared toward lowering the commerce and elevating public consciousness about illness dangers related to animal trafficking and slaughter.
