For street cats like Shuri in Vietnam, every day is a fight for survival. Black cats are highly prized in the cat meat trade and danger lurks round every corner. Is the hand that feeds you a caring friend or are they a meat trader looking to snatch you off the street and sell you to a certain death for the highest bid? How is a cat to know?
Until recently, Shuri was cared for a by a little boy who loved her. He would take her food before going to school and play with her when he got home. But he noticed a change in his feline friend, Shuri’s belly was growing. She soon gave birth to five tiny kittens!
On the streets of Da Nang, Vietnam, rumours spread fast and it didn’t take long until the young boy got an anonymous call from a trader, interested in buying the mother with her five kittens. For many in Vietnam cat meat is considered a local delicacy. The young boy became anxious Shuri and her kittens could be stolen or worse, lured away by poisonous meatballs. Luckily, your continuous donations made it possible for FOUR PAWS teams to immediately answer the young boy’s call for help, and Shuri with her five kittens were rescued and treated.
But, Shuri is one of the lucky ones. Over a million cats are killed for their meat every year in Vietnam. Can you help put an end to this cruel trade to protect more cats like Shuri and her kittens?
In Vietnam, street cats like Shuri get snatched from the streets, poisoned or drowned to death before meeting the butcher’s knife served to paying customers.
Local bars and restaurant menus list them as “little tiger”, while others consume them as part of some traditional medicines.
In Vietnam, black cat meat is considered a special treat, while cat meat sells for £6.50 / kg black cats are priced £16.50 / kg. Some of these cats are often stolen from their loving homes, leaving their loving families torn and heartbroken.
Your compassionate donations have helped to feed, treat and vaccinate hundreds of cats at risk of being murdered for their meat. Supporters like you have kept animals off the streets where they are vulnerable to cat meat traders and funded spay/neuter programmes so unwanted litters just like Shuri’s kittens do not fall victim to this brutal trade.