Some 100 cats are forced to run through the streets and then hanged, beheaded or beaten to death to be cooked and eaten as a ‘delicacy’ for tourists on the Feast of St. Iphigenia, also known as "The Feast of the Cat" or "the Curruñao Festival". This festival is held in the village of La Quebrada in Cañete in southern Peru, in September, for tourists to taste dishes made from cat’s meat. Peru’s animal protection law makes such a practice illegal, but the authorities turn a blind eye.
Sign now to demand that the authorities and event organizers stop torturing and slaughtering cats during the festival; tell the local mayor that this ‘tourist entertainment’ is a cruel and despicable custom, and that tourists planning to visit Peru will warn their travel agencies that they want to avoid the Cañete area. The torture and slaughter of domestic animals is not tourist entertainment.
Email the mayor now on: desoca@hotmail.com muni_sl2011@hotmail.com
Peru’s Minister of Environment on: mpulgarvidal@minam.gob.pe
Peru’s Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism on: magali.silva@mincetur.gob.pe
Aggiorna #311 anni fa
We have had a partial victory. No cats were forced to run through the streets and the cat-meat dishes were not officially served at the town's festival this weekend. But the 'chef' who keeps cats in cages to fatten them did kill six cats he had bred for the festival. Local media have taken a position against the festival. This has been achieved with your help. Please continue to circulate the petition to exert more pressure and avoid this cruelty all together in the future.
Many thanks.
Aggiorna #211 anni fa
Dear friends,
Thank you again for your support for this campaign, which has been taken up in the media, both press and radio. Congressman José Urquizo has called for a ban on the practice, and has asked the minister of health to have it stopped, citing animal rights and public health. However, the local authorities maintain that it is part of their local culture and religious expression and so far refuse to be deterred.
Aggiorna #111 anni fa
Dear friends,
Many thanks for your magnificent support for the campaign to stop the torture and killing of cats in Cañete in Peru. We have collected over 1300 signatures.
Today I sent your signature, along with all the others, to the authorities who should be aware of international outrage at this appalling custom and could have it stopped.
I will keep you updated.
Best wishes,
Rosemary Underhay
Vida Digna Animal Welfare Association, Peru
