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.

Continue reading at Metro London – Vietnam restaurant that drowned 300 cats a month for meat closes | World News | Metro News

Pham Quoc Doanh, 37, tore down the sign of his cat meat restaurant after five years of business (Picture: Chau Doan)

Doanh has joined HSI’s Models for Change to stop slaughtering cats for food (Picture: Chau Doan)

Just what we need !

Regards Mark

Dear Mark,   

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!

Bring to their despairing hearts pure delight – make a donation today for street animal rescue.

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! 

Instead of giving up, let’s give – Make a donation today.

Shy Melvin’s secret strength!

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.

For the shy ones who need bold help, please donate.

Follow in their footsteps and volunteer with us! 

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.

Animal Aid Unlimited Shop

We thank you deeply for all you do, are, and inspire for animals

Founding family Erika, Claire and Jim, and the Animal Aid Unlimited team.

Regards Mark