AP PHOTOS: Cat owners in Kashmir thrown into a tizzy over viral posts bad-mouthing their pets

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Cat lovers in Indian-controlled Kashmir were thrown into a tizzy. Panic spread and local veterinarians saw a surge in pet owners coming in with their cats — all because of posts that went viral on social media.

It began with a warning in January from veterinarians in the disputed Himalayan region, where the cat population has soared over the past years, partly because of stray cats roaming free and pet stores bringing in ever more costly breeds to keep up with local demand.

The vets said there's been an uptick in infections among the feline population due to lack of vaccination and mishandling of strays.

What was meant to be a cautionary note was misinterpreted. Video clips and news reports started claiming that cats transmit potentially deadly infections to humans, and that cat-borne diseases can cause miscarriages among women.

Days later, the region’s animal husbandry department issued a statement saying there's no harm in keeping cats as pets as long as proper hygiene is maintained.

But the statement did little to calm pet owners in Kashmir, where cats have been long revered in Islamic folklore for their cleanliness and considered noble and intelligent creatures.

Mir Mubashir, a local businessman who lives on the outskirts of Srinagar, the region’s main city, said the posts and reports made him worried. His heart heavy, he took Liger, his Persian kitty, to her vet to make sure she was fine.

“I felt really scared," he said. Only after the vet's assurances that all was well did he calm down.

Reflecting the level of concern, Altaf Gilani, the head of the main Srinagar animal hospital, said they had examined 2,594 cats in the first seven weeks of this year, compared to a total of 1,010 cats in January and February last year.

If regular deworming, vaccinations and hygiene protocols are followed, pet owners are not at risk, he said.

Keeping cats, much like raising pigeons in Kashmir, is seen as a stress buster and mood elevator in a region long plagued by conflicts.

Split between Pakistan and India but claimed by both in its entirety, Kashmir has recently seen two harsh lockdowns, first in 2019, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government stripped the region's semi-autonomy, and again in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic.

More and more people began adopting stray cats during the lockdowns. Children were encouraged to play with them — experts called it pet therapy.

"Cats entice you to love them and you get attached once you spend time with them,” said Mujtaba Hussain, another cat owner.

This photo gallery by Associated Press photographer Mukhtar Khan highlights some of the Kashmiri people's love of their feline companions.

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A man walks past a pet shop selling Persian cats in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, March. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A shopkeeper plays with kittens on display inside a pet shop in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Monday, March 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A stray cat looks out from the window of a house in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025 (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Kashmiri family eats dinner with their pet cats sitting beside them inside in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025 (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Yousman zahoor poses for a photograph with her pet cat at her home in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A stray cat sits on the roof of a house in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A pet cat is brought for treatment to Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A pet cat receives treatment at the Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025 (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Yaseen, a doctor, examines a pet at the Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Doctors and medical staff attend to a sick and injured pet cat inside Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Fazan, a Kashmiri boy, kisses Luna his pet cat at the Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Kashmiri boy plays with a pet cat while waiting outside Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A cat named Luna receives treatment at Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Yaseen, a doctor, examines an X-ray of a pet cat at the Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

A Kashmiri man waits for his pet cat to receive treatment inside Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025 (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

People register their pet cats for treatment at Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025 (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

People wait with their pet cats outside Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

This combination photograph shows pet cats in carry bags at Kashmir veterinary hospital in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.

Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.

Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.

The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.

State television also showed images of what it said were more than a dozen wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. A man identified in state media as Col. Pedro Domínguez attended Thursday's ceremony in a wheelchair.

He said it was a “disproportionate attack” that killed 11 colleagues around him as they slept. Domínguez said he was committed to doing “whatever it takes to defend this people and to remain united in the face of threats from the United States.”

Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.

Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.

Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.

Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.

“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.

The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.

Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.

“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”

The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.

Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.

“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.

In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.

In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.

In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.

The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.

“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”

The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.

Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.

But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.

“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”

Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”

Rodríguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”

Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)