A couple of days ago, a UK photographer named Ragib Choudhury posted a carousel post on his Instagram along with a long caption that described the horrific things he allegedly witnessed during his time in Malaysia back in 2018. However, things started to unravel after the post went viral with netizens claiming that he was lying.
The photos in the carousel showed the inside of a butcher shop at an old indoor market on Petaling Street. In his original caption, the photographer claimed that he felt uneasy while taking a few photos when he entered the place. “I have heard stories of people eating cats but it’s always difficult to picture it,” he wrote.
He spotted a cat in a cage with a ladle on top of it, assuming it to be someone’s pet. The artist journeyed further inside until he came across the butchers in the photo. He saw two adult cats in cages on the counter with a sign above them that reads, “Not for sale. This is my pet. Not for eating”. The professional cameraman then claimed that he saw one of the butchers cutting cat meat on the counter.
After discreetly taking his photos, the man left thinking that he might have overreacted to what he thought he saw that day. The post went viral on both Instagram and Twitter with many initially calling for authorities to investigate the alleged incident. However, after carefully examining the photos, netizens then called him out for slander.
Some pointed out that the sign he saw should’ve been an obvious indicator that the butcher shop was not killing cats for their meat. Others said that the meat on the table was pork – judging by the size and colour and that the UK man only assumed that it was cat meat. Many also slammed him for spreading lies and even accused him of being racist for using his photos and caption to “prove” the stereotype that Asians eat cat meat.
One netizen on Facebook came forward claiming that the store belongs to her late uncle and that the cats were never harmed. As seen in the comments section, many urged the netizen to sue the photographer. After much backlash, Ragib Choudhury edited the post’s original caption to: “KL, 22nd June 2018,” further adding to the suspicion that he was lying about the alleged incident.
At the time of writing, the photographer has yet to address the allegations he made in his original caption. As for local authorities who were tagged to investigate the situation, they have also yet to release an official statement regarding the viral post. Guess we’ll have to wait and see how this story unfolds.
