Nearly 400 Cats Rescued in Vietnam from Animal Meat Trafficking Ring

Nearly 400 live cats, many reportedly stolen from their owners, have been rescued in Ho Chi Minh City following a police operation that dismantled a criminal network trafficking animal meat. The Saigon Zoo released photographs this week showing the rescued felines, captured during a raid last week that led to the arrest of nine suspects.

According to Ho Chi Minh City police, the suspects confessed to trapping hundreds of cats over the last three years. On Thursday, officers discovered 45 cages containing the live cats at a city parking lot, along with four boxes holding 80 dead cats preserved in ice. Preliminary investigations suggest the group sold batches of cats at approximately $2.80 per kilogram at least twice weekly, with the animals then transported across the country.

The Saigon Zoo is actively sharing images of the rescued animals on Facebook, hoping to reunite them with their owners. Humane World for Animals reported that 40 cats have already been claimed, while about 260 remain in police custody. Some of these include kittens born after the rescue and pregnant females. The NGO noted that several seized cats have died recently, and many survivors appear thin and weak.

"The sad reality of this trade is that every month, thousands of cats are stolen, trafficked, and slaughtered for their meat across the country, and the fate of most is to end up in a slaughterhouse or a restaurant to be killed and consumed," said Phuong Pham, the NGO's national director. Humane World for Animals also highlighted that cat meat consumption persists in other Asian countries, with an estimated four million felines slaughtered annually in China.

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The sad reality of this trade is that every month, thousands of cats are stolen, trafficked, and slaughtered for their meat across the country, and the fate of most is to end up in a slaughterhouse or a restaurant to be killed and consumed.