For Chennai Tribe, Cat Meat A Delicacy; Sold For Rs 100 per Kg

Cat biryani and cat soup are reportedly served at weddings within the Narikuravar community.

16 cats were rescued by activists and People for Animals in Pallavaram. (Photo: The News Minute)

The town of Pallavaram, Chennai, a Narikuravar tribal settlement was in the midst of construction work when they were approached by a man who offered to help them.

Arvind, an animal rights activist, noticed a cage with 16 cats huddled together and with their tongues sticking out due to dehydration.

At the corner, there was a man chopping meat. He told us that it was cat meat and that it was to be sold. Rs 200 for 2 kgs he said, it was that cheap. A man even ate a raw piece of meat and recommended that we try black cat’s blood.

Sagar Sheth, activist, to The News Minute

Last Thursday morning, four activists Arvind Kannan, Koushik Raghavan, Meenatchi Sundaram and Sagar Sheth rescued the cats and sent them away in an ambulance arranged by a People for Animals (PFA) activist Shiranee Perreira.

‘Not A New Occurrence’

Picture used for representational purposes. (Photo: Reuters)

Venkatesan, the inspector of Pallavaram's S5 police station told TNM that this is not a new occurrence.

“They keep cats like this naturally, it has always been like that. We didn't really know about this incident and got to know only through activists,” he says. A complaint has been filed.

We have to check if it’s mixed. It may not be sold directly as cat meat. We have to test it in labs to check if the composition is a combination of cat meat and other meat

Sagar Sheth, activist

Pallavaram was in the news in 2014 as well, when 13 cats that were encaged by a tribal community for their meat were rescued, as reported by The Hindu.

According to a 2010 New Indian Express article, cat biryani and cat soup are pretty common at weddings within the Narikuravar community.