The dire food shortages in Venezuala has resulted in desperate and tragic consequences for the cats of the country. The mayor of Caracas distict Chacao said:
“People are hunting dogs and cats in the streets and pigeons in the plazas to eat…”
I think we should think about the cats of Venezuala as well the people. There are shortages of food, medicines and toiletries.
The problem as I see it is mismanagement of the country by the politicians coupled with a crash in the price of oil and putting food distribution in the hands of the military who make money out of trafficking food which is more profitable than trafficking drugs. I am sure there are other reasons but ultimately the country relies too much on oil to bring in revenue which has lost its value due to oversupply. They import too many products and need to manufacture more essential products and goods.
But this is about cats. Street cats are probably commonplace in Venezuala. They are an easy source of food. It reminds me of China except that in China killing cats for food is a preference in some municipalities rather than a necessity.
As I see it, in Venezuala, there will be fewer domestic cats in homes being cared for by a family than in the West and more community cats living inside and outside. There will also be more stray and feral cats. Hence the idea of hunting them for food.
In the UK if anyone hunted cats for food they’d be hunting an outside domestic cat “owned” by someone as you rarely see feral cats. It would be both a crime (cat cruelty under Animal Welfare Act) and a matter for the civil courts (tort of conversion).
This is a horror I’ve seen coming for a long time, due to human over-population.
I’m not sure there is an actual food shortage. Just corruption. Of course overpopulation remains an issue worldwide.
Why do humans have to resort to eating a living breathing sentient being I’m sorry but humans dont need meat to eat,someone in that country needs to till the lands and grow veggies and fruit but thats my opinion.
In this case they have resorted to eating what we consider pets because they have no choice.
They have a choice. Grow veggies! Even in pots they will grow. They do not need ‘meat’.
Great comment. Agreed. It is disrespectful of street cats and as you say unecessary. Although when humans are starving there is no knowing what they’ll do.
I am not sure if Venezuela has enough land to grow veggies for everyone. There is also logistics of delivering it. Additionally, it’ll take time. You cannot grow enough in pots to feed even a single family. Seriously, Carolyn, John, have you ever experienced real hunger? Have you ever been in a situation in which your child, mother, little sibling cries from literal pain in the stomach because there is no food?
Agree. Vegetation isn’t lacking there. I don’t eat most animal flesh and can survive.
There are rain forests there too, you cannot gather enough edible stuff from rain forests. It’s so good of you to eat fruits and vegetables because you can go to a store and buy it. I wonder what you’d say if you didn’t have money to buy anything in a store and you were starving to death. By the way, it’s very difficult for someone who’s never experienced hunger to understand how it feels.
My parents lived in Russia during the Second World War. They were lucky enough to evacuate from Leningrad before the blockade, but the food was scarce even in villages near Ural mountains they were evacuated too. Oh, and fruit and veggies don’t grow there in winter, and locals didn’t have extra food to feed the newcomers. My father told me that when you hear your little brother to cry from hunger, you are ready to do absolutely anything just to find food. It’s really easy to talk when you just had a good meal.