HANOI: Vietnam Police in Hanoi saved thousands of cats from potentially becoming barbecue after seizing a truck in Northern Vietnam carrying more than 3 tons of live cats smuggled in from China. While the cats will have to be culled in accordance with local laws, officers on Thursday indicated reservations about saving the cats bound for restaurants, only to have to kill them anyway.
“After receiving a tip, we searched the truck and discovered the cats inside,” Cao Van Loc, deputy chief of police in Hanoi’s Dong Da district, told German press agency dpa on Wednesday. “The owner, also the driver, said he bought the cats at the border area of Quang Ninh province,” Loc said, adding that all of the cats were from China.
Photos and videos from the local An Ninh Thu Do newspaper showed the cats crammed into wooden crates with their limbs and tails sticking out. Loc told dpa that local laws dictate smuggled goods – that includes the cats – have to be destroyed. But the next day he told Agence France-Presse that they were undecided on killing the cats because there were so many. Loc said the driver will be fined around $350 for transporting goods without the correct documents.
