More than 300 cats left in cages in two houses in Bangkok have been rescued after neighbours alerted animal activists that their owner had abandoned them.
The cats were thought to have been strays the owner had given shelter to. But she could no longer afford to feed them after her circumstances changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, said activist Warattada Pattarodom.
"The owner did not come to this place for quite a while, many months," Pattarodom said.
A neighbour had sometimes fed the cats, a volunteer involved in the rescue said.
Pattarodom, speaking from one of the veterinarian clinics now looking after the animals, said some of them had died and both locations were filthy.
After being given checkups by vets, the cats will be sent to an animal shelter in the northern town of Chiang Mai.
The shelter, which also looks after elephants, is already caring for nearly 1,000 cats that had been abandoned during the pandemic.
Kanin Ruchisereekul, a veterinarian at the 3d Pet clinic, said he was confident the cats would be able to recover.
"The cats got stressed because that were in an enclosure for a long time. But after last night they started to snuggle in the cage when people approached," said Kanin.
(Writing by Ed Davies; editing by John Stonestreet)
