In Vietnam’s cruel and illegal meat trade, it’s often the suffering dogs who are in the spotlight. But cats too are caught up in this cruel and illegal trade—stolen from homes and streets, trafficked across provinces and slaughtered by the thousands every month. Cats are, in many ways, the forgotten victims of Vietnam’s illegal meat trade.
That changed this week in Ho Chi Minh City.
Two local organizations, HavePaws and Vietnam Cat Welfare, have been at the forefront of the massive effort to meet the urgent needs of the rescued cats on site, along with volunteer veterinarians. They have been providing around-the-clock care, helping to meet the animals daily welfare needs.
More than 400 cats were seized by police in what appears to be one of the largest single cat meat trade interceptions in Vietnam's history. Several cats have already been reclaimed by their families who had been desperately searching for their stolen pets.
Inside Viet Nam’s cat meat trade
Viet Nam's cat meat trade is a profit-driven network that stretches across the country. Cats are stolen from homes and streets, transported in overcrowded cages with no food or water, and sold through a chain of traders before reaching slaughterhouses and restaurants. Many die during transport; those who survive will face brutal slaughter.
Investigations have documented cats arriving at slaughterhouses still wearing collars—a stark reminder that many are beloved pets.
It’s estimated that more than two million cats in Vietnam are taken or stolen for the trade each year, yet the issue receives far less attention than the dog meat trade.
Why this seizure matters
Historically concentrated in northern provinces such as Thai Binh and Hanoi, the cat meat trade has increasingly expanded south. Investigations have exposed restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City openly selling and slaughtering cats, making this seizure of cats by local authorities especially significant.
The cat meat trade poses significant public health threats. The movement of unvaccinated animals of unknown health status across provinces and borders undermines efforts to thwart the spread of rabies. Cats who carry rabies and end up in the stressful, overcrowded conditions of the meat trade pose dangers to everyone: other cats, handlers, transporters and butchers.
Humane World for Animals Viet Nam has provided initial emergency assistance and is working with local groups on the ground to assess longer-term support needs for the cats as the case progresses.
The response from volunteers, local organizations, businesses and authorities reflects a growing concern for animal welfare in Viet Nam and increasing recognition that the cat meat trade has no place in modern society. The number of cats reunited with their owners, along with the sheer volume of people descending on the holding station searching for their lost pets, is a testament to the great affection of millions of people within Viet Nam, as well as their concern about the dreadful toll exacted by pet theft for the meat trade.
What comes next
The immediate priority is securing a longer-term solution for the cats still being held as evidence while legal proceedings continue. We are thankful to the groups on the ground handling this intensely difficult work and hopeful that the cats can soon be transferred to veterinary clinics for their ongoing care and recovery.
This rescue demonstrates what is possible when authorities act. It also highlights the need for stronger legal protections. Vietnam previously prohibited the capture, slaughter and consumption of cats for more than two decades before the ban was revoked in 2020. Reinstating and enforcing clear legal protections would be one of the most effective steps toward ending this trade and preventing future suffering.
From CAS International and AnimaNaturalis, we have once again released a new report, this time about the bullfights in Pamplona during the San Fermín festivities of 2026. What many people do not know is that the bulls that run through the streets of Pamplona in the morning die in the arena during a bullfight later that very day. Our report aims to raise awareness of this.
Every year, thousands of tourists from home and abroad – including many Dutch, British, American, and Australian visitors – take part in the bull runs in Pamplona. We are often unaware that the bulls running through the streets in the morning are killed that same day during a bullfight. The famous bull runs of Pamplona are actually nothing more than a remnant of a medieval tradition of 'running the bulls'. toward the arena for a bullfight.
Images from CAS International taken in Pamplona. public bullying young cows
Opinion of the Spanish population
The bull runs of Pamplona seem popular because they receive a lot of media attention. But in reality, most Spaniards are against bullfighting. A 2025 survey by Sigma Dos shows that 78 percent of Spaniards do not consider themselves supporters of bullfighting.
A study by the Fundación BBVA shows that 77% of the Spanish population finds it unacceptable that animals are used for bullfighting. Other studies confirm this picture. And figures from the Ministry of Culture (2024-2025) show that only 8% of Spaniards attend events involving bulls, such as the Pamplona bull runs or bullfights.
In 2024, Ipsos I&O Publiek conducted a survey among 7,500 people about bullfighting, commissioned by CAS International. This revealed that the majority of people in Spain, France, and Portugal are opposed to bullfighting. They believe that this tradition inflicts unnecessary suffering on the bulls.
CAS International calls on tourists to stay away from the bull runs and thus not contribute to the perpetuation of this violent tradition.
Petition against EU subsidies
Did you know that your tax money is used, via European agricultural subsidies, to breed cattle for bullfighting and cruel folk festivals in Spain, France, and Portugal?
It is estimated to amount to 200 million euros per year. We believe this must stop. That is why we, from CAS International, with the support of the animal organizations AnimaNaturalis (Spain) and ANIMAL (Portugal), have launched a petition with the aim of ending European agricultural subsidies for bull breeders.
Stop European agricultural subsidies for bullfighting!
Bullfighting in Europe still takes place in Spain, France, and Portugal. Every year, thousands of bulls die in the arena, and tens of thousands of other bulls and cows are used in cruel traditional festivals, such as bull runs.
What many people don’t know is that this is partly made possible by the European Union (EU). And every EU citizen contributes to this.
How does that work?
Every year, the EU provides agricultural subsidies to farmers. This is done through a scheme called the Common Agricultural Policy. A portion of this money, an estimated 200 million euros per year, goes to breeders of bulls used for bullfighting.
Many people in Spain, France, Portugal, and the rest of the EU disagree with this. They believe their tax money should not be used for these practices.
But we can do something about it!
In the coming years, the European Commission, EU Member States, and the European Parliament will decide on a new Common Agricultural Policy for after 2027. This is the perfect time to show that we want an end to these subsidies for bull breeders.
Public Opinion
In 2024, we commissioned a public survey on opinions regarding bullfighting in Spain, France, and Portugal. A majority of the population in these countries is against bullfighting and believes that no public funds should be spent on facilitating it. Read all the survey results here.
Want to know more?
You can find more information about all things related to bullfighting and recent updates on our website, www.cas-international.org.
If you’d like to learn more about what bullfighting involves, check out this page.
If you want to know more about the cruel bull fiestas and sign a petition against them, visit www.bloodfiestas.org.
About this petition and CAS International
This petition is an initiative of CAS International and is supported by the animal rights organizations AnimaNaturalis (Spain), ANIMAL (Portugal) and more European and International organizations. Data originating from this petition will only be shared with the European Parliament in line with our privacy statement and not with other organizations that support this petition.
CAS International is a Dutch NGO committed to end bullfighting, cruel patron festivals with bulls and cows and other cultural events that cause animal suffering. We advocate for a compassionate culture in which no harm is inflicted on animals or humans. We are member and co-founder of the International Anti-Bullfighting Network. Together we fight for a bullfighting free world.
Animal Rights files complaints against rabbit farms in Meerle and Frasnes-lez-Anvaing following the horrific undercover footage of rabbits being caught and crated for transport.
Between early November 2025 and late February 2026, Animal Rights filmed the loading of rabbits at rabbit farms 26 times for transport to the two Flemish rabbit slaughterhouses, Lonki and Van Assche. Rabbits are picked up by the ears and fur, thrown around, and fall to the ground.
Animal Rights filed a complaint with the Animal Welfare Division against a Flemish rabbit breeder from Meerle and with the Parquet du Procureur du Roi de Mons, Division environnement / bien-être animal, against a Walloon rabbit breeder from Frasnes-lez-Anvaing.
The compilation footage features 18 different rabbit farms in the Netherlands, Flanders, and Wallonia. Filming took place multiple times at several farms. The transport went to rabbit slaughterhouse Lonki in Temse 19 times and to rabbit slaughterhouse Van Assche in Deinze 7 times. Animal Rights followed the transports from the slaughterhouses to the rabbit farms and back again, and filmed the loading of rabbits using a drone from the air and a telephoto lens from the ground.
Flanders and Wallonia have only a handful of rabbit farms left. Consequently, rabbits for Belgian slaughterhouses and supermarket shelves are primarily kept in the Netherlands, often with a lower welfare standard than is required in Belgium. This also means that rabbits are frequently mistreated in the Netherlands during catching and loading into crates, but are loaded into Flemish trucks by Belgian drivers on their way to Flemish slaughterhouses.
For the Netherlands has no rabbit slaughterhouses, and rabbit meat is hardly eaten there outside of Christmas and Easter. The transport of rabbits for Lonki is carried out using trucks from ADL Transport, which, like Lonki, is based in Temse. Van Assche has a smaller truck of its own, but primarily uses the trucks of poultry transporter Kruiskip from Zulte.
Compilation of footage from the Netherlands and Belgium
Meerle In Meerle (Antwerp province, a sub-municipality of Hoogstraten), the rabbits at the Pijnenenborg-Jansens farm, which switched from dairy cattle to rabbits about 5 years ago, are lifted primarily by their fur, but also by their ears, or by a single ear. This is prohibited under the European transport regulation. Consequently, all handling of the rabbits in the footage is illegal and punishable.
In Meerle, rabbits are stuffed from their cages into overcrowded shopping carts (or variations thereof), crammed on top of each other, the animals at the bottom crushed under the weight of the animals above them.
Many loaders handle multiple rabbits by the ears or fur in one hand, like laundry from a laundry basket, causing a rabbit to regularly fall to the ground or back into the shopping cart.
Rabbits are very regularly thrown from a height into low crates and drawers.
Because employees position themselves and the shopping carts poorly, rabbits are often thrown over a distance.
Regularly, rabbits are walked over longer distances in hand, by the ears or fur, without support.
Due to the small openings in the crates at the Lonki slaughterhouse and the rough work of the loaders, the rabbits often hit the plastic edges.
One employee works more roughly than another, but, remarkably (or perhaps not at all in this industry), we have nowhere observed employees correcting each other, or parents correcting their children who are helping out.
At all locations, the driver, and thereby the representative, of the transport company and the slaughterhouse is watching, both on foot and from his forklift. Nowhere do we see a driver intervene.
The statues from Meerle (Hoogstraten)
Frasnes-lez-Anvaing In Arc-Ainières, a sub-municipality of the Walloon municipality of Frasnes-lez-Anvaing in the province of Hainaut, rabbits at the recently established Aurelap farm are primarily lifted by their ears. This is a strictly prohibited form of animal cruelty.
Rabbits weigh about two and a half kilos before slaughter, but nowhere are the animals supported.
Here too, overloaded shopping carts are used, in which the animals at the bottom are crushed under the weight of the rabbits above them, transporting the rabbits from their cages to the loading transport containers of carrier Kruiskip and rabbit slaughterer Van Assche.
The images from Frasnes-lez-Anvaing
Violations of Welfare Rabbits are prey animals. Being picked up is an inherently stressful experience for them. The rabbit breeder and his or her employees are predators to the rabbits. Fleeing is impossible, fighting back is futile. This form of stress is a violation of welfare inherent in the industry that breeds and fattens rabbits for slaughter.
The rough handling of rabbits during catching, moving, and placing in crates for transport causes fear and pain in addition to stress.
A third impairment of well-being is sensory overstimulation from light, sound, and smell; from the forklift, the stacking and picking up of crates, employees, and exhaust fumes.
Poultry and rabbit transporter Kruiskip in Zulte
Legal framework According to the European Transport Regulation, it is prohibited, among other things, “to lift or drag animals by the ears, fur and legs, or to treat them in such a way as to cause them unnecessary pain or suffering” .
According to the Belgian Animal Welfare Code, no one may, except in cases of force majeure, perform acts “which cause an animal to die unnecessarily or cause the animal’s welfare to be harmed unnecessarily in another way on a physiological and/or ethological level.”
According to the 'Decree of the Flemish Government concerning the welfare of rabbits in breeding farms', “unnecessary suffering or stress is avoided” when handling the rabbits . They are never lifted by the ears or limbs.
The most recent scientific advice from the EU stipulates that rabbits must always be supported outside the cage or crate.
Reactions in the Netherlands On July 4, RTL Nieuws in the Netherlands showed undercover footage from Animal Rights from the rabbit industry during the 6:00 PM and 7:30 PM news broadcasts: “Throwing, grabbing by the ears, and even slamming them to death against the ground. All sorts of things go wrong at breeders in the Netherlands during the catching and loading of meat rabbits.”
The RTL News broadcast
The NVWA, responsible for animal welfare supervision in the Netherlands like the FAVV in Belgium, “was stunned upon seeing the footage” and said in response: “We have viewed the footage, indeed, and to be honest, it left us speechless. The way these companies treat these rabbits is downright appalling and reprehensible. […] We are also going to invite the sector here to our office for a serious discussion and, yes, we are of course going to investigate the footage, and if that footage provides grounds for enforcement, then we will do so.”
The Dutch rabbit sector itself also responded: “We have seen the images and are truly shocked.” It promises measures.
The reaction of the rabbit sector in the Netherlands
On July 5 and 6, parliamentary questions were submitted to the State Secretary and the Minister of Agriculture “regarding the structural suffering of rabbits and new footage of serious violations in the Dutch meat rabbit industry” by the Party for the Animals and governing party D66.
In Belgium, it has remained practically dead silent until now.
End rabbit farming! Rabbits spend the 11 weeks between their birth and their journey to the slaughterhouse in cage systems without the opportunity to exhibit natural behavior. There is little to no room to hop and run, and no opportunity to dig. These rabbits never go outside and never see direct daylight. They do not live in natural group compositions, walk on a surface with cracks, are constantly situated above their own excrement, and breathe in the ammonia fumes from it. In addition, there is the continuous noise from mechanical ventilation and music systems.
After 11 weeks of captivity in cages, the rabbits are crammed into overcrowded shopping carts, lifted by their ears or fur, and thrown into crates.
The inspection reports drawn up at the slaughterhouses show that there are abuses there as well.
According to Animal Rights, it is time to conclude that rabbit farming is in no way capable of meeting the needs of rabbits and that rabbits are completely unsuitable for the livestock industry. We must therefore stop searching for ever-small, often imaginary, improvements in farming conditions and shut down this sector.
Lions are not native to Thailand, and these cubs will never be released into the wild. They face a lifetime of captivity – simply to satisfy demand for close encounters. These lion cubs are not rescued. They are bred and rented or purchased from horrendous lion farms, where cubs are taken from their mothers at just a few weeks old. They are used for photos and cuddles until they grow too big – then, most are sent back to farms for breeding or face an even darker fate. These lions are exploited at every point of their lives.
The conditions in these farms are dire. Lions are kept in barren cages for life, with females repeatedly bred to produce cubs for tourist attractions. All for a fleeting photo opportunity. Unfortunately, with the correct paperwork, it is legal to own a lion in Thailand.
Many people are particularly concerned about whether the lions are sedated – but that is just one part of a much bigger issue. Whether drugged or not, these animals should not be in cafés or used for human entertainment. The real problem is that they should never have been bred in the first place.
Wildlife interactions are never ethical
It’s not just lions. Any person or venue offering hands-on experiences with wildlife – whether it’s elephants, tigers, primates such as orangutans and slow loris, dolphins, or other animals – is exploiting them. We understand that animal lovers want to connect with wildlife, but true respect means observing animals from a distance in their natural environment, not forcing interactions for profit and entertainment.
Sedated for a selfie
What can you do?
Don’t like, share, or comment on videos featuring captive lions in a fun or positive way
Don’t visit places where you can interact with lions
Don’t pay for shows with big cats or any wildlife
Don’t pay to bottle-feed lions/ take photos with lions or any animal
Send a report through our Report Illegal Wildlife Trade form, and we’ll provide information on how to report this to the authorities. The more people who raise concerns, the more likely it is that action will be taken.
Report to the authorities
Please report any observations to the Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), which oversees wildlife management in Thailand, including the regulation of animals kept in private possession or zoos. They can be contacted via:
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