VietNamNet Bridge - The senior members of a non-governmental organization on dog protection in Asia - ACPA – have sent a petition to the Government of Vietnam to call for end to theft, smuggling, and slaughter for meat and the cruel treatment of dogs in Vietnam.

The head of ACPA, John Dalley, said though in recent years Vietnam has had a significant change in attitudes and behavior of dog meat consumption, the market for dog meat remains busy, especially is in big cities like Hanoi and HCM City.

Investigation of ACPA shows that each year more than 5 million dogs are killed and consumed in Vietnam, while local sources of supply are short. As a result, dog theft and dog smuggling from neighboring countries have increased sharply in recent years. Dogs are mainly smuggled from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

Le Dinh Chinh, Coordinator of ACPA Vietnam, said that acts of cruelty against dogs not only occur in the transport process but also during many other stages before the dogs are slaughtered.

"The dogs being slaughtered have unknown origin so they may carry diseases such as cholera, trichinosis, scabies, rabies ... and have a high risk for users,” he said.

Chinh said during the investigation, he saw many gruesome and dirty images at the places where dogs are caged awaiting slaughtering. "I’m sure that just witnessing it once like I did, many people will never eat dog meat again because of the shocking images."

Chinh has made a report on the status of abused dogs to use in the "Come Home, Dog" campaign, launched by ACPA recently to enhance empathy for dogs, and call for end to theft, trafficking, slaughter and consumption of dog meat in Vietnam.

PV