New SR5 owner - catalytic converter protection?

I haven't done much digging into this topic but I have always assumed that they are stealing the Cats for the prescious metals inside. Is this not the case? They're actually selling them whole to auto shops?

 

Big market for stolen parts. Body shops buy up stolen air bags for repairs. I imagine the same would be true for cat-converters.

 

Correct, the reason this is hard to get around is because when you cut the cat open, it's hard to keep all of the contents intact.

 

This is not only a problem in the US. Cats are being stolen all around the world. There are reports of shipping containers of them being sent to China and Ivory Coast.