An international animal rights charity has worked together with the restauranteur to shut down the cat slaughterhouse for good (Picture: Chau Doan)
A Vietnamese slaughterhouse that drowned 300 cats a month for the Southeast Asian country’s feline meat trade has been closed down for good.
Pham Quoc Doanh, 37, ran the Gia Bảo restaurant in the Thịnh Đán ward of Thái Nguyên, the capital of the northeast province of the same name, for five years.
‘Specialty cat meat,’ the sign outside the eatery on Quang Trung Street once read, with a photograph of a wide-eyed black cat in the top-right corner.
Eating cats is relatively common in Vietnam, where the decade-old appetite for felines has seen their meat be considered an aphrodisiac, lucky charm and even a health-boosting superfood that combats Covid-19.
Our team of fabulous women staff is growing! We currently have 35 incredible women employed in Animal Aid who are essential in making Animal Aid the love-filled place that it is.
Many of our women employees come from rural backgrounds and traditional families where it’s not always encouraged for women to work outside of the house. Indeed, in our early years when we only had male employees we had almost no applications from women. But one by one as women joined, they helped encourage others to do the same. Many of our female staff have overcome many obstacles and are the sole bread-winners of the family, and working at Animal Aid gives them independence. They excel at their jobs here because they understand nurturing from having cared for their own children, and they understand how to get a job done from having managed their households.
Thank you, supporters, for not only saving animals, but also giving employment that has improved so many human lives.
Daffodil was a wilting flower. When she healed from mange, she bloomed.Daffodil was a wilting flower. When she healed from mange, she bloomed.
Daffodil’s red encrusted face looked almost like burn scars from a distance. But once we got closer we could see that her face, throat, chest and arms were fiery red because of an extremely ravaging case of mange. She could barely open her eyes, because the parasites had advanced to her eyelids, and she seemed to be wearing a mask of pure pain. She wouldn’t survive much longer without treatment. We took no chances of her getting away from us and caught her using the net.
But by the time we gently lifted her to the treatment table her exhaustion made her completely docile. She could barely stand. We immediately treated her for pain, and applied soothing cream over all the hurting skin, and then gave her a few hours in the sunshine to rest and adjust to her new surroundings. We treated her with mange medicine including weekly medicated baths. She was an extremely shy girl–at first! But watch this transformation to withdrawn and afraid, to falling in love, beaming in joy. Completely pain-free and all healed, meet delightful Daffodil now!
When he healed, this boy became the world’s sweetest Saber-Toothed Tiger!
When Saber emerged from his hiding place under a car, our rescue team gasped. This beautiful old street dog’s lower jaw at first seemed simply–gone. The skin was entirely detached in a tangled confusion of flesh and maggots. We lifted him gently and hurried back to Animal Aid where our team began assessing his horrible maggot-filled wound. We were extremely worried that the wound could never heal, but he had such a fighting spirit, we knew we had to try.We were surprised and so relieved that his appetite was incredible, and his courage to eat despite the pain humbled our hearts.
This frightful beginning turns into one of THE HAPPIEST endings–or should we say, new beginnings! Meet Saber now, and check out the single tooth on his jaw–you’ll know why we named him Saber. It’s short for Saber-Toothed Tiger!
Courage can best be measured in relation to someone’s fear. This dog had good reason to be afraid, and he showed incredible bravery after a forehead wound became a massive hole filled with life-threatening maggots.
He didn’t give up, although we had to see through his shyness to fully grasp his strength. Melvin remained shy throughout his 6 healing weeks, but the gradual emergence of his smile told us the story in his heart.
Rita (Germany) is travelling with an appetite for the unexpected and spontaneous. We were so all so lucky that when she “stopped in” at Animal Aid to experience volunteering here, she found such a sweet fit that she gave the animals almost two months of the most loving care. We were thrilled to see Rita transform into an Animal Aid “regular” and eagerly await her return.
Stefanie (Germany) has volunteered numerous times over the last 8 years. She returned last month and warmed the hearts of everyone here–such a gentle soul with unbelievable patience, focus, and caring for animals and the people who care for them. We feel so lucky to have amazing Stefanie in the lives of so many dear animals.
Jen (USA) has been a delightful multi-time addition to our volunteer crew, and took time off from her job as an EMT helicopter pilot to swoop down to help the animals once again. We thank Jen for her unwavering good cheer, her deep sensitivity to what animals need one by one, and for brightening all our lives every day she was with us.
Rachel (UK) has graced these newsletter pages several times before; she is a mainstay among our volunteers and can be easily mistaken for staff, given her growing knowledge of our systems here, her charisma with newcomers, and the loving help she lavishes on animals and all the people here.
…Just cuz!
It’s always a great reason to buy a gift
for a friend, or for yourself!
Cuz your purchase here is always a gift of love for the animals.
100% of the proceeds go to our street animal rescues.
For the first time, the welfare of cats and dogs will be protected by EU legislation. The proposal is set to introduce long overdue measures on the traceability of cats and dogs, breeding practices and imported animals, but further work is required to tackle extreme breeding and online sales.
The lack of proper traceability, which hinders controls and enforcement when tackling illicit trade, has finally been addressed through the proposal of national databases that must be interoperable at EU level. All cats and dogs must now be identified and registered by a veterinarian or qualified person.
It is welcoming to see that the five domains concept is fully embraced by the regulation, not only through the absence of negative experiences but by encompassing positive ones. The proposal includes several measures to improve breeding practices, most notably a requirement for breeders to gain approval from competent authorities, with permission only provided after inspection, yet the frequency for such inspections is not yet defined. Approved establishments must be included by authorities in a public list, while caretakers need to obtain certification following mandatory training.
It is positive to see that these requirements would also apply to imports, to ensure that the EU does not feed cruel practices abroad.
In other good news, the legislation addresses the online pet trade, however, there is room for improvement in order to ensure tighter measures for safer and more secure online sales of cats and dogs.
The proposal does fail, however, to address other important measures such as a ban of sale of cats and dogs in pet shops, the abuse of artificial insemination, and sufficient actions to control extreme breeding: “minimising negative welfare consequences” may be too broad to be addressed as it deserves. An ownership ban, as well as a ban on the use of extreme featured breeds in the media and in exhibitions and competitions, could provide much better restrictions.
The need for these measures are highlighted in the findings of the EU enforcement actions on illegal pet trade, published yesterday, which shed light on the major routes for fraud concerns, and identified the challenges in tackling such trade. An estimated 438,000 dogs and 80,000 cats are offered at any given time online, with fraud still rampant. The report highlighted the importance of ongoing collaboration between Member States as well as tools that can facilitate this.
Today marks an important milestone for the welfare of cats and dogs, and the publication of the European Commission’s report on illegal trade further demonstrates the need for this legislation. The overdue measures for animal welfare and traceability within the EU are critical, yet we must address shortcomings, to control the rampant illegal pet trade happening online, through enhanced communication between Member States, training, effective enforcement, and harmonisation of regulations.
Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals
Animal protection organisations reiterate the need for the EC to come forward with a timeline for the missing proposals that were previously announced, in particular the Kept Animals and Slaughter Regulations, which will benefit billions of farm animals each year.
A lucrative underground trade risks undermining research, creating new pandemics and pushing a recently abundant species to the brinkIn 2019, Jonah Sacha, a researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, received a delivery of 20 monkeys from Mauritius. As part of his research into stem-cell transplants as an HIV treatment, he performs tests on long-tailed macaques.
Comedian Ricky Gervais has donated £1.9 million to animal charities across the globe.
The stand-up and creator of television shows such as After Life and The Office, has donated a substantial sum raised from ticket sales from his latest Armageddon world tour.
The money will be split equally between 11 worldwide animal charitiesthat have been chosen by Gervais.
These include All Dogs Matter, Animal SOS Sri Lanka, Catastrophes Cat Rescue, Chaldon Animal Sanctuary, Dogs On The Streets, Helping Rhinos, Millions of Friends, Mira Dogs, Paws2Rescue, PDSA and Wild Futures.
About the move, BAFTA, Emmy and Golden-Globe winning comicGervais, 62, said: “I hope the dogs, cats, rhinos and monkeys invest this money wisely, because when my career goes tits up I’ll need it back.”
In an effort to take action against ticket touts, Platinum Tickets for the Armageddon tour went on sale to guarantee premium seats at market rates, with the extra profits from these ticket sales going to Gervais’s animal charities.
Gervais, a vegan, is a long-standing supporter of animal rights and has put his name to various initiatives in the past.
Earlier this year, he supported a campaign to end bear bile farming in Vietnam, where bears, trapped in small cages, are subjected to a painful method of extracting bile for use in traditional medicine.
We try to avoid using the word “miracle” in our newsletter and social media posts, even though there are plenty of times when we’re tempted to use it–when we thought a cut was too deep, the cancer too advanced, the damage from maggots too pervasive for the animal to heal. But we usually choose not to say “her healing was a miracle” because we feel it discounts all the effort and hundreds of combined hours of human help that make the healing possible. But yet, there is something more than the sum of its parts, taking place in the relationships that make everyone coming together to help animals a family, a team, a group of friends, whose affection is sealed by our shared love of animals.
And now we want to use that very word: the miracle of friendship. There is an unspoken understanding between all who care for animals, many who have sometimes been deeply misunderstood. Your love, our love of animals, is not casual. It hovers within us at all times. An animal’s smile turns our hearts to mush; the abuse of an animal astonishes and ignites us. These are what forge this miracle of friendship we experience together.
May all the blessings of peace rain down upon us all as we continue rescuing these vulnerable animals from injuries, illnesses, and abuse, and may our hearts, too, find deep happiness in their recoveries. Thank you for your gifts of help, and for your gifts of friendship to Animal Aid and to the thousands of others weaving this beautiful blanket of compassion.
A mere rubber band almost ended Chicky’s life.
We were stunned to see that a rubber band could so horribly injure this puppy’s neck. The rubber band penetrated deep into the tissue and caused a horribly painful and deep wound.
As soon as we had Chicky on the treatment table of course we cut the rubber band off, and although the removal stung a bit, we suspect that relief was almost immediate. We then treated the wound like any other serious laceration, and supported her with antibiotics, a hydration drip, food and–yup, cuddles! It took her a couple of weeks to no longer need the bandage, but we were thrilled at how quickly her little body healed.
Turned out, to no one’s surprise, that Chicky is a huge love bug, eager to forget her weeks of pain, ready to leap into a long happy life ahead.
Help us say “We can fix this!” – make a donation today for street animal rescue.
Pihu’s sparkling eyes say “I survived cancer!”
If you’d just looked at Pihu’s eyes, you wouldn’t know she was dying. But the advanced cancerous tumor on her backside was slowly taking this beautiful street dog’s life. The cancer type is called a Transmissible Venereal Tumor, (TVT) and it usually affects the reproductive areas.
A several months’ course of weekly chemotherapy was necessary to shrink the tumor. But such therapy is not always successful, and the more advanced the tumor is, the more difficult the recovery. If a dog’s overall condition has been greatly weakened by the cancer, he or she cannot always be saved. But Pihu is as strong as she is sweet, and she inspires love to last a lifetime–and hers, we hope, will be a long one.
For the ones who need so much more than just medicine to recover – Make a donation today.
Haldi’s tail thumped in hope, just when her life was in gravest danger…
Beyond Haldi’s huge neck wound, her tail wagged, as if pleading for help. When our rescue team arrived, we found her unbelievably gentle despite her terrible pain. She would need surgery as soon as possible, so once back in our hospital we cleaned and put on a temporary bandage at the site of the worst of her wounds (she also had a less serious wound on her hind leg).
Once the operation was complete, Haldi’s rapid healing simply galloped along. And Haldi made her wound dressings a breeze, she was just so full of trust and love. All healed, meet the strong, radiant Haldi now!
When surgery is their only hope, let’s be there. Please donate.
…These are a few of your fav-o-rite things….
Your purchase is a gift to your friends, yourself, and best of all, to animals.
100% of the proceeds go to our street animal rescues.
It was difficult, with many threats from the Serbian government. But, if you believe you are right then you stick with. What we do in life, echoes in eternity.
As a result of continuous “questioning” on the issue; they are now threatening to close the shelter “Alex” as some kind of revenge..
This is not going to stop us – we eagerly await a response from the EU which should definitely give us confirmation that export consignments took place.
The Kingdom Of Bhutan Becomes The First Country In The World To Achieve 100% Dog Sterilization & Vaccination
The Kingdom of Bhutan has become the first country in the world to declare that its entire street dog population is fully sterilized and vaccinated following years of investment in a humane dog management program with global animal charity Humane Society International (HSI).
At the formal closing ceremony of the National Dog Population Management and Rabies Control Project in the capital Thimphu, presided over by Bhutan’s Prime Minister, Dr. Lotay Tshering, the Royal Government of Bhutan announced this historic achievement for animal welfare and human health.
At the ceremony, Prime Minister Tshering presented HSI with a plaque in recognition of what he called HSI’s ‘consistent and unwavering support’ towards Bhutan’s street dog welfare success from the beginning in 2009 until its closure – thereby honoring a decade and a half of intensive, targeted spay/neuter work and community engagement initiatives carried out by Bhutan in partnership with HSI.
Since its inception, the project has successfully sterilized and vaccinated more than 150,000 street dogs and micro-chipped 32,000 pet dogs.
Back in 2005 I worked with Slavica (Serbian) to set up ‘Serbian Animals Voice’ in order to be a voice, and campaign for much better treatment of stray dogs and cats in Serbia. From the start it was difficult as we were up against a government which viewed endless killing as the only way to ‘control’ stray numbers.
This is an utterly wrong way to view stray animal management and instead we fought to have the government / regional authority ‘killing money’ redirected into covering costs for stray sterilisations, vaccinations and genera health check ups. Anyone with anything between their ears will agree that sterilised animals cannot produce more young; and that was the basis on which we fought. Their ‘final solution’ of just continually killing and doing nothing else does not reduce numbers as new animal young are being born on the streets all the time. A catch, neuter and re release scheme after vaccinations and a good health check is the only way forward to reduce stray numbers.
Sadly the Serbian government just ignored our proposals and continued with their policy of simply killing anything on the streets that they could. Killing simply creates a void in different areas into which strays will wander; looking for food and probably more dogs to reproduce with. If they are sick and have illness or disease, then they always have the chance by moving to a new area of taking ‘that’ illness into an area in which stray dogs may not have suffered from before.
Health checks, sterilisations and vaccinations against disease is the all round solution to stray dog / cat management. Killing is simply a short term ‘fix’ which may show a reduction in numbers for a few weeks; but with un-sterilised strays reproducing all the time we soon see a situation where ‘local mass killing’ returns stray numbers to what they were before, or even higher.
Serbia needs to learn stray dog management from Bhutan.
Thus to see this superb news from Bhutan is amazing – mega big well done to them for seeking and taking the right advice and way forward with stray animal management.
You can see all of our Serbian work by visiting the old site at
serbiananimalsvoice.com
Well done Bhutan; Serbia dragging years behind as always.
This is fantastic news for the welfare movement; and we send them our very best for what has been a massive campaign over so many years – they have had the tenacity to fight on regardless of some promises by politicians in the near past.
A 3 year phase out sounds long and is long; but with those in the business knowing their days are very limited; we may e a dramatic reduction in farming in say, the first year. Once there is proper legislation in the form of a (legal) Bill; then this can be used for prosecutions etc. The dog farmers will know it and the sooner we see them walk the better it will be for all.
We have attempted to give action and news support on this issue singe our foundation – you can see our past posts here :
Congratulations again dear campaigner friends – in the end, good always wins over evil.
Regards Mark
Photos by HSI Korea
A historic announcement as the South Korean government has stated that before the end of 2023, it will introduce a bill to ban the dog meat industry, which farms and kills up to 1 million dogs per year for human consumption.
At a meeting in Seoul today, between the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs,representatives of the ruling Peoples Power Party and Korean animal groups, including Humane Society International/Korea,a government bill was confirmed with a three-year phase out period once legislation is passed, meaning the ban would come into effect in 2027.
Compensation will be offered to help legally registered dog meat farmers, traders, slaughter houses, and restaurant owners transition or close their businesses, similar to the Models for Changeprogram run by HSI/Korea, which has worked with 18 dog meat farmers across the country since 2015 to switch to growing chili plants or parsley.
This news follows considerable public and political momentum for a dog meat ban, including the introduction of five legislative bills by National Assembly Members. The news is welcomed by HSI/Korea,one of the leading animal groups campaigning for an end to dog meat nationwide.
“News that the South Korean government is at last poised to ban the dog meat industry is like a dream come true for all of us who have campaigned so hard to end this cruelty,” said JungAh Chae, executive director of HSI/Korea, who attended the meeting with MAFRA. “Korean society has reached a tipping point where most people now reject eating dogs and want to see this suffering consigned to the history books.”
“With so many dogs needlessly suffering for a meat that hardly anyone eats, the government’s bill delivers a bold plan that must now urgently be passed by the Assembly, so that a legislative ban can be agreed upon as soon as possible to help South Korea close this miserable chapter in our history and embrace a dog friendly future,” said Chae.
With growing concern for animal welfare and over 6 million pet dogs now living in Korean homes, demand for dog meat has dwindled. Latest opinion polls by Nielsen Korea, commissioned by HSI/Korea, show that 86% of South Koreans won’t eat dog meat in the future and 57% support a ban.
HSI recognizes that a short phase out period is an inevitable consequence of dismantling the trade and helping farmers and traders transition to other livelihoods. However, HSI urges the government to use the phase out period to work with animal welfare groups like HSI/Korea to rescue as many dogs as possible in a state-sponsored, coordinated effort.
HSI/Korea’s Models for Change program has rescued more than 2,700 dogsfrom dog meat farms across South Korea. The program has found adoptive homes for the rescued dogs in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, with a small number rehomed in South Korea. Most of the farmers with whom HSI/Korea has worked experience mounting societal, family, and financial pressure to get out of farming dogs for their meat.
“This is a momentous day for HSI’s campaign to end the horrors of the dog meat industry in South Korea, and one we have been hoping to see for a very long time,” said Kitty Block and Jeff Flocken, CEO and President of HSI globally, in a joint statement.
”Having been to dog meat farms and seen HSI/Korea’s Models for Change program in action, we know only too well the suffering and deprivation these desperate animals endure in the name of an industry for whom history has now thankfully called time,” continued Block. “This is the beginning of the end of dog meat farming in South Korea, and HSI stands ready to contribute our expertise until every cage is empty.”
World Animals Voice 
