CHENNAI: Animal activists saved 16 cats, suspected to be kept for slaughter, from a Narikorava camp in Pallavaram in the city early on Friday. While activists claimed that these were to be slaughtered for meat for small eateries in the neighbourhood, police, however, did not confirm it.
“The cats were in a dehydrated and tormented state when we found them,” said Sagar Seth, of People for Animals (PFA). Shiranee Pereira, co-founder of PFA, four volunteers and a local police personnel conducted the searches at 5 am this morning following surveillance.
“Some of those involved in the trade make up to `20,000 a month,” Shiranee added.
The raid was organised after two volunteers conducted a surveillance of the camp earlier this week. "We saw them cutting the meat pieces," said Meenakshi Sundaram, one of the rescuers. Aravind Kannan, another rescuer claimed that the members of the community told them that they used to sell the meat for `100-150 a kilo.
Police have not registered an FIR against the community members in the absence of evidence of slaughter or sales. But the volunteers claim to have video-taped a man chopping the meat.