Hundreds of cats packed into cages, 80 already dead, and families desperately searching for missing pets. Vietnamese police have uncovered what animal welfare groups describe as one of the country's largest cat meat operations in years, rescuing more than 500 animals and arresting nine suspects linked to an alleged trafficking network.
The raid, carried out in Ho Chi Minh City, exposed a trade campaigners say operates largely out of public view but continues to fuel the theft, transport and slaughter of thousands of cats across Vietnam every month. The scale of the discovery has shocked even experienced rescuers, with several pregnant cats among those recovered and kittens later born in temporary police care.
