# Thousands of Cats Buried Alive in Vietnam **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 5, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861 "2015-02-05T03:08:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/1 "2015-02-05T03:08:33Z")
Story [here](http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/466250/1000s-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam). :(:mad: Excerpt: \*\*"A truck containing three tons of live cats crammed into bamboo crates was impounded last Tuesday in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, with police initially undecided how to deal with the animals. “But on Wednesday a police officer told AFP they had been buried in accordance with Vietnamese law on smuggled goods.”\*\* Sheesh! This is extreme even for Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/2 "2015-02-05T03:17:37Z")
Why did I even read this post? I’m totally not going to click on the link. I think I’ll just cuddle my cats and cry for humanity. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/3 "2015-02-05T06:29:04Z")
Sad, but I’ver met cat haters who would probably stand up and applaud Vietnam for doing this. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/4 "2015-02-05T07:34:06Z")
I hope they all get rabies. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/5 "2015-02-05T13:21:51Z")
Someone needs to do their math: 3 tons of cats != “thousands of cats”. Even a skinny cat weighs at least six pounds, which means there’s a thousand cats here at most. As awful as burying a thousand live cats is, I wonder what other options were really available. If you’re in charge, what do you do with a truckload of a thousand sickly cats? You’re not Bill Gates, your a Hanoi police chief; you don’t have the budget to quickly buy a thousand lethal doses of pentobarbitol, and you don’t have the veterinary resources to humanely cage/feed/treat a thousand animals. Shoot them? It’s easy to shoot a cow, but a cat isn’t going to just stand there in a field while you draw a bead on it. So how do you humanely dispatch a thousand cats on a limited budget? ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/6 "2015-02-05T13:37:40Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > … > So how do you humanely dispatch a thousand cats on a limited budget? From the article: “Animal protection groups, who pleaded in vain for the cats to be spared, fear many of the creatures were alive when they were buried.” Why weren’t animal rights groups asked for assistance? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/7 "2015-02-05T13:39:11Z")
If a law calls for burying smuggled goods…the enforcers should still differentiate between live goods and not-alive goods. Letter of the law vs. spirit of the law. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/8 "2015-02-05T14:18:19Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > From the article: “Animal protection groups, who pleaded in vain for the cats to be spared, fear many of the creatures were alive when they were buried.” > > Why weren’t animal rights groups asked for assistance? To do what with? I’m no fan of burying cats alive, either, but really, we don’t need 1000 more cats released into the world. There is no shortage of cats. I’m never sure what people want us to do with every unwanted animal out there. We can’t save all of them. Instead, we should be much more in favor of spaying and neutering all of our pets, and making that be the focus of our attentions, both here and internationally. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/9 "2015-02-05T14:33:44Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > To do what with? I’m no fan of burying cats alive, either, but really, we don’t need 1000 more cats released into the world. There is no shortage of cats. > > I’m never sure what people want us to do with every unwanted animal out there. We can’t save all of them. Instead, we should be much more in favor of spaying and neutering all of our pets, and making that be the focus of our attentions, both here and internationally. To euthanize them before burying them. Being buried alive in a pile of your fellow creatures is an exceptionally shitty way to go. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/10 "2015-02-05T14:50:18Z")
Spay/neuter is very unpopular in many countries and cultures. There is a thought that it is “against nature”. I think it’s hugely ironic that castration is against nature but killing animals in horrendous ways like this, or letting them roam the streets spreading disease and breeding and dying of starvation is “with nature”. It’s an education matter. The really difficult challenge is that the education they need usually is in opposition to cultural traditions and beliefs. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/11 "2015-02-05T14:50:25Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I hope they all get rabies. What a dick! Don’t you think they have enough problems as it is being buried alive?! ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/12 "2015-02-05T15:00:22Z")
Yet this same country allowed Gary Glitter to leave alive. Seriously skewed priorities. ---
**Author:** ![AnaMen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@AnaMen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnaMen)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/13 "2015-02-05T15:01:12Z")
> [@JcWoman](#): > > Spay/neuter is very unpopular in many countries and cultures. There is a thought that it is “against nature”. I think it’s hugely ironic that castration is against nature but killing animals in horrendous ways like this, or letting them roam the streets spreading disease and breeding and dying of starvation is “with nature”. > > It’s an education matter. The really difficult challenge is that the education they need usually is in opposition to cultural traditions and beliefs. These cats were slated to be eaten, so it isn’t a pet overpopulation problem in this case. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/14 "2015-02-05T15:03:03Z")
“Hey Joe, wake up! We’re being rescued!” “Let me die in peace, you sick sonofabitch.” “No, I’m serious! It’s a rescue! Look!” “I don’t believe it… God answered our prayers!\* The nightmare is over!\*” ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/15 "2015-02-05T15:09:29Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > So how do you humanely dispatch a thousand cats on a limited budget? Gas, probably. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/16 "2015-02-05T15:24:56Z")
:eek: Oh, the waste . . . oh, the curry . . . oh, the pho . . . _sniff_ ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/17 "2015-02-05T15:56:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > “But on Wednesday a police officer told AFP they had been buried in accordance with Vietnamese law on smuggled goods.”\*\* Smuggled goods get buried? I’d be concerned that there was a typo in the story, and that he actually said they were “burned.” ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/18 "2015-02-05T16:00:59Z")
**chews on his bacon cheeseburger** Those savage, savage people! ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/19 "2015-02-05T16:27:01Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > To do what with? I’m no fan of burying cats alive, either, but really, we don’t need 1000 more cats released into the world. There is no shortage of cats. Apparently there is a shortage in Vietnam, necessitating importing cats from China. I guess “little tiger” is the cat’s meow in Hanoi. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thousands-of-cats-buried-alive-in-vietnam/711861/20 "2015-02-05T17:24:30Z")
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