Father gives daughter 100 civet cats, gold bars, cash and shares in dowry to make her 'financially independent'

A Vietnamese bride was endowed with 100 civet cats in dowry as a way to secure her entire future. The female civet cats are valued at 1.8 billion Vietnamese dong (US$70,000). These cats are known to produce the world's costliest coffee. A civet cat that has given birth is valued at around 18 million dong (US$700), while a pregnant one can fetch up to 27 million dong ($1.036)

In addition to the cats, the 22-year-old also got 25 taels of gold bars, 500 million dong ($20,000) in cash, company shares worth 300 million dong, seven properties and other assets. Dowry is common in several Asian countries, but the total cost of everything this woman was given has shocked social media.

In addition to what her father gave, the groom's family showered her with 10 taels of gold, 200 million dong in cash and diamond jewellery.

The bride's father, Hong Chi Tam, says he wanted to ensure his daughter had assets that guaranteed financial independence, according to SCMP. He added that every one of his children had become part of the family business after graduating.

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Tam says he would support his daughter in every decision, whether she chose to raise the cats or sell them, so that she would be “financially independent.”

People are shocked to see the amount of dowry

Social media users are shocked to see how much the father gave as dowry. One of them quipped that "Vietnamese tycoons are already giving away entire industry chains as dowries", when cash dowries are still a rage in China.

Civet cats produce expensive coffee

Civet cats are popular for their role in the production of the world's most expensive coffee, the Kopi Luwak coffee. It is created from the faeces of the cats. The animals are fed ripe coffee cherries, after which they release the coffee beans as faeces. It is then cleaned and processed to make the coffee. The beans can cost $100 to $600 per pound.

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They are also caught for meat, which is a luxury food in China and Vietnam. Parts of civet cats are also used to produce certain traditional Chinese medicines.

However, animal rights organisations have often raised concerns about the way the cats are captured and kept. They are caught using box traps and snares from the wild. They are kept by farmers in small cages where they face distress and end up dying early or harming themselves.