Peruvian festival involving cat meat banned by court

October 9, 2013

By Rachel Chase

Festival of Santa Efigenia has traditionally involved dishes made with cat meat.

In mid-September, animal lovers around the world were outraged when news of a Peruvian festival celebrated with traditional cat meat dishes made the rounds.

The festival, called the Corruñao, is held in the southern Peruvian province of Cañete in the Lima region. Local festival organizers told press that the practice of eating cat in conjunction with the festival, a celebration of Catholic Saint Efigenia, goes back many years.

Upon learning of the festival, many animal rights activists called for its abolition. The case of the festival became so high-profile that Congressman José Urquizo from Ayacucho even lodged a formal complaint against it with the Department of Health. Congressman Urquizo maintained that not only was did the eating of cats represent an act of animal cruelty, but was unsanitary and dangerous to public health.

Now a court mandate has been handed down in Cañete that will prohibit the practice in the future.

El Comercio reports that a judge in Cañete has ruled against the tradition’s continuation, citing complaints of animal cruelty. According to El Comercio, critics of the practice proved in the eyes of the court that the killing and eating of cats constituted cruelty, as well as a threat to public health as a result of potential psychological damage caused by witnessing the tradition.