To the Government of Vietnam and World Organizations,

If Vietnam truly wishes to be seen as a modern and progressive country, it's essential that the protection of animals be strengthened with a comprehensive animal welfare law that should take root starting with dogs and cats.

Mahatma Gandhi said: "The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
It's extremely difficult to see the greatness of Vietnam when in fact, the cruel dog and cat meat trade greatly tarnishes Vietnam’s image.

In Vietnam, millions of animals and many of them being pets, are stolen, poisoned, caged and trafficked to slaughterhouses and/or to restaurants for slaughter. The unregulated and inhumane dog and cat meat trade not only causes emotional and physical suffering to the animals, but also to the distraught pet owners, local residents, tourists and to everyone around the world who witness these atrocities on social media.

We have arrived to a critical point in time where severe consequences have finally caught up to our failure to eliminate the risks that threaten the public health in Vietnam and to the global community.

The dog and cat meat trade is a public health threat in which zoonotic diseases are transferred from animal to human and eventually, diseases and viruses will spread. It is important to ban live animal markets where every species of animals is often trafficked to, including dogs and cats. If we truly wish to prevent another catastrophe, we must act responsibly now.

We urge the Government of Vietnam to take action to:

1. Enact law to prohibit the sale, transport, slaughter and human consumption of dog and cat meat with strong criminal penalties.

2. Enact a comprehensive animal welfare law for the protection of dogs and cats and extending it to all animals with strong penalty provisions for animal cruelty.

3. Promote and implement educational programs within your communities to invalidate the misbeliefs and superstitions of dog and cat meat. Superstitions have no medical and scientific basis and the Vietnamese government must do their part to provide community -outreach programs to educate their citizens.

4. Finance and build community shelters for the abused, neglected, abandoned, injured and hungry dogs and cats. The government should then further provide assistance to maintain operations in support for the locals who will care for the animals at these shelters.

5. Implement a national Trap, Neuter, Release (TNR) Program to help control the overpopulation of dogs and cats. The government should also subsidize and offer free to low cost spay and neuter services for pet owners to further help with overpopulation.

Thank you.