THAI NGUYEN , Viet Nam—Twenty cats and kittens who have been as a consequence of be drowned at a slaughterhouse in Thai Nguyen, Viet Nam, have been given a second likelihood at life after the proprietor requested animal charity Humane Society International’s native group for assist to shut his business for good. Thirty-seven-year-old Mr. Pham Quoc Doanh had run his cat meat restaurant and slaughterhouse for 5 years, drowning as much as 300 cats a month to serve to clients as a dish referred to as ‘thịt mèo’ (cat meat) and ‘tiểu hổ’ or ‘little tiger’. Regret at killing the animals, and significantly the data that many have been stolen pets, led him to resolve to get out of the commerce for good.
The closure of Mr. Doanh’s business and the rescue of the cats is a part of HSI’s Viet Nam Models for Change program, launched within the nation final 12 months after efficiently working in South Korea since 2015. The program has to this point closed down two canine slaughterhouse/eating places and one cat slaughterhouse/restaurant in Thai Nguyen.
Mr. Doanh stated: “For a while now I have felt a genuine desire to leave the cruel cat meat business and switch to something else as soon as possible. When I think of all the thousands of cats I’ve slaughtered and served up here over the years, it’s upsetting. Cat theft is so common in Viet Nam that I know many of the cats sold here were someone’s loved family companion, and I feel very sorry about that. It makes me happy to know that thanks to HSI, my wife and I can now put the cat meat trade behind us and start afresh, still serving my local community but no longer as part of this brutal and crime-fuelled trade. I want to see a ban on the dog and cat meat trade in Viet Nam.”
With a one-time grant offered by HSI, Mr. Doanh is organising a grocery retailer. As a part of the settlement, he signed over to HSI the remaining 20 cats and kittens at his slaughterhouse in order that they could possibly be rescued and placed for native adoption. HSI rescuers eliminated the traumatized cats from the property on the ultimate day of business and watched as Mr. Doanh tore down the restaurant’s “cat meat” signage, symbolising his exit from the cat meat commerce.
Quang Nguyen, Humane Society International’s Viet Nam companion animals and engagement program supervisor, stated: “We are thrilled to be closing down our first cat meat trade business in Viet Nam, and hope it will be the first of many as more people like Mr. Doanh turn away from this cruel trade. Although most Vietnamese people don’t eat cat meat, the belief still persists that consumption can cure bad luck, and the scale of the suffering is astonishing. These 20 lucky cats and kittens have escaped a terrible fate and will be found loving homes, but our work continues to see a nationwide ban on the cat meat trade that brings such pain and distress to so many.”
An estimated a million cats a 12 months are killed for meat in Viet Nam, all stolen pets and strays snatched from the streets. Traders use meals baits to lure the cats into do-it-yourself spring-loaded snares. Polls present that an astonishing 87% of individuals have both had a pet stolen or have an acquaintance whose pet has been stolen. Pet theft is turning into a rising societal subject in Viet Nam, with the growing animal-loving and pet proudly owning inhabitants pissed off with the dearth of regulation enforcement to guard their animals from unscrupulous thieves and merchants. In addition to pet theft, truckloads of each dwell and slaughtered cats have additionally been reported coming throughout the China border. Cats (and dogs) are incessantly trafficked unimaginable distances throughout Viet Nam, even within the baggage maintain of passenger buses, typically travelling for greater than 24hours with out relaxation, meals or water in suffocating situations, with many dying alongside the best way.
A recent Nielsen opinion ballot (Oct. 2023) commissioned by HSI exhibits that cat meat is consumed by a relative minority of the Vietnamese inhabitants (21%) with the bulk (71%) in favour of a ban on each cat meat consumption and commerce. By far the highest causes for not consuming canine and cat meat are a perception that they’re companion animals and an aversion to animal cruelty.
All 20 cats rescued from Mr. Doanh’s slaughterhouse have been taken to custom-made sheltering at Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry the place they have been vaccinated in opposition to rabies and can obtain medical care earlier than being made available for native adoption.
Cat meat commerce info:
- Cat meat dishes are significantly frequent across the capital, Hanoi, and within the northern province of Thai Binh.
- In 2018, 9 cooler containers containing almost 1 ton of frozen cats was intercepted between Dong Nai province within the south and Thai Binh province within the north.
- In 1998, the Prime Minister issued a directive banning the looking, slaughtering and consumption of cats in efforts to encourage cat possession to maintain the rat inhabitants beneath management. However, little to no motion was taken to fight the commerce, and the directive was finally repealed in 2020.
Download video and photos of the dog slaughterhouse closure operation.
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