Police in Vietnam have seized more than 400 stolen cats in a major bust of a feline meat crime ring in Ho Chi Minh City, according to animal welfare groups and local media.

More than 40 of the rescued cats were reunited with their owners after the multiday operation last week, but several dozen of those rescued have died due to the harsh conditions they were found in, the groups said.

This operation is “a sobering reminder of the enormous scale” of Vietnam’s cat meat trade, Karanvir Kukreja, who leads a campaign against dog and cat meat consumption for the international nonprofit Humane World for Animals, said in a statement on Tuesday.

An investigation last week into a spate of pet thefts in Ho Chi Minh City led police to track down the cat meat crime ring and detain nine people, according to local media. Officers discovered 45 cages containing about 400 live cats and four ice-filled foam containers holding about 80 dead cats with 21 live cats recovered at a separate location.

The suspects admitted to trapping and collecting cats across southern Vietnam over the past three years in Ho Chi Minh City, Tay Ninh and An Giang, police said.

Consumption of dog and cat meat is legal in Vietnam. Vendors must have permits to validate the animals’ origins. But certain cities like Hoi An in central Vietnam are working with global animal welfare groups to stop dog and cat meat consumption.

Source: www.aljazeera.com