Do Chennai local eateries sell cat biryani?

Some youths of Tamil Nadu's Narikorava community were found selling cat meat to roadside eateries for making biryani in and around the Pallavaram town in Chennai. A People for Animals (PfA) volunteer Sagar Sheth who received the information then planned to rescue cats that were alive.

The PfA decided to find out more about the cat meat activity. Two PfA volunteers who visited the Narikorava settlement on Thursday, October 29,  made friends with some youth of the community. The volunteers then asked these youths to show them how the entire process of the cat butchering goes on. The volunteers recorded the entire demonstration and later showed it to the Pallavaram police who agreed to save the cats.

"At a corner in Pallavaram area, there was a man chopping meat. He told us that it was cat meat and that it was to be sold. The cost was Rs 200 for 2 kgs. A man even ate a raw piece of meat and recommended that we try black cat's blood," Sheth told the The News Minute (TNM).

The very next day police along with the volunteers went to the same location to undertake the cat rescue operation. They found that 16 cats were put in a cage in horrible conditions. They were dehydrated as they were not given any water nor were they fed properly.

The cats were saved and then taken to the PfA shelter in Red Hills. The co-founder of PfA, Shiranee Pereira said that the cats were recovering from the shock and would need a month's time at least to get over the experience and act normally.

The police would test the cat meat obtained from this area to find if flesh and body parts of other animals were mixed in it.

It is said that some people eat cat biryani by assuming it to be chicken, whereas others preferred eating cat as it was cheaper than other meats.