I am glad to share the encouraging story of a Vietnamese cat meat farmer who's just decided to give up the trade and join our campaign for change, transitioning to a humane livelihood and helping us to make the case against dog and cat meat farming.
Nguyễn Đức Thịnh's farm, in Quyet Thang commune, Thai Nguyen city, is the sixth dog or cat meat trade business we’ve helped to close in Viet Nam, where an estimated 1 million cats a year, along with 5 million dogs, are killed for meat. And just like our successful initiative in South Korea, which began on a similar basis and culminated in a national prohibition on dog meat farming earlier this year, this is not a campaign of one-offs. It’s part of a broader effort to end this grim commerce in every nation where it persists.
I'm proud of the approach we’ve taken, not only because it results in such dramatic and gratifying deliverance and rescue of animals in need but because it demonstrates the transformational potential of constructively engaging those involved in the trade, changing their lives and creating motivation for others to change in turn. It’s a campaign that shows the world not just what we’re against—abject cruelty and indifference to animals—but what we’re for, actions and commitments that are good for us all, people and animals alike.
Thinh's change of heart is a familiar one but it’s still stirring every time someone abandons dog or cat meat farming. He’s not the first farm operator to express his desire to leave animal cruelty behind—we've met many others, and with help from our program, Thinh will transition to growing tea, guava and pomelo fruit for local markets.
He’s immensely relieved because he had come to feel a deep sense of shame and guilt about the cruelty and suffering for which he was responsible. He also found himself increasingly troubled by the public health and safety risks of his operation, and the concern that he might be helping to spread rabies weighed heavily upon him.
Tim Gerard Barker /AP Images for HSI
The cats from Thinh's farm, some 20 in all, are now receiving needed veterinary care and loving attention, and soon they’ll come to the United States for eventual adoption. And like other animals before them, they’ll be global ambassadors for the transformational impact of our Models for Change program, which helps those involved in a cruel business to move on to better and kinder lives.
Jean Chung/For HSI
Fight the dog and cat meat trade and help all animals
As for Thinh, he is now a part of something larger than himself, an effort to reshape the world on a kinder, gentler and nobler axis. There are others like him out there, in Viet Nam and elsewhere. It’s our job to find them and to bring them into the fold. And we will.
Follow Kitty Block @HSUSKittyBlock.
