The he cat snatcher
| Published date | 20 July 2023 |
| Publication title | Daily Record, The / Sunday Mail (Glasgow, Scotland) |
The 47-year-old is part of a network of super thieves, slaughterhouses and restaurants responsible for the slaughter of a million cats a year in Vietnam.
Yesterday a probe revealed the horrendous cruelty inflicted on the animals to satisfy a growing demand for this so-called exotic meat.
Most of the restaurant demand is in Hanoi where some restaurants buy them direct from thieves and slaughter them on site as we revealed yesterday in our investigation from the capital.
But to meet demand cats are snatched across the country and sent to slaughterhouses to supply them.
I travelled south to the province of Dong Thap, near Ho Chi Minh City, to quiz Nguyenn, who has agreed to meet and defend his trade.
He shuffled uncomfortably in his seat when I confronted him with pictures showing cats being battered and skinned by a barbaric de-furring machine.
But he was emotionless as I questioned him further about the cruelty and told him he collects cats as if he was picking vegetables from the fields.
Only when I pushed him on what his kids thought of it did I see a glimmer of humanity towards the animals he traps.
He said: "I'm sad for the cats and feel sorry for the pain they suffer, but I have to take them to support my family.
"My children hate what I do and feel guilty. They've asked me to stop but I've told them I have no choice."
Sitting on the trap with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, the former labourer said he turned to cat theft when he was forced to stop working this year after having an operation to remove kidney stones.
Catching five to six cats every night he has more than doubled his daily income from 200,000 Vietnamese Dong (£6.46) as a labourer to about 500,000 (£16.20) now.
My kids what I ask me but I've them choice NGUYENN TALKS ABOUT
He said he now mainly steals them for the pet trade but admitted he could not be sure they were not ending up in the pot.
Cats often suffer wounds, lacerations, ruptured eyes and broken bones during capture from the snares and tongs used.
They are then delivered in sacks to wholesalers who ram them into cages for days until they have enough to cover transport costs.
do and to stop told I've no
Local animal protection groups say they have witnessed cats giving birth early while in these holding areas, a result of extreme stress.
HOANG CHAU...
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