An estimated 5 million canines are killed for meat yearly in Vietnam — the second highest on the planet behind China — with some believing consuming the meat may help dispel unhealthy luck whereas others take into account it a delicacy.
But attitudes in direction of consuming canine meat are slowly altering, significantly in cities, because the animals are more and more saved as pets.
Kieu Viet Hung, who has been working within the commerce for the previous seven years, on Friday handed 44 dogs over to a shelter, which can take care of the animals and attempt to discover them new houses.
“When I used to kill them, I felt sorry for them,” Hung, 39, instructed AFP at his farm in mountainous Thai Nguyen City, north of Hanoi.
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Kieu Viet Hung, proprietor of a canine farm and slaughterhouse, carries a canine subsequent to cages on the facility in Thai Nguyen Province on Nov. 3, 2023. Photo by AFP |
Hung slaughtered as much as 20,000 dogs over the previous seven years. The majority have been bought to him by rural households who breed puppies at home to complement their earnings.
Traders would ship round 50 puppies each one or two months to Hung’s facility, the place they have been saved in filthy cages, fattened up over a number of weeks or months after which killed, in keeping with the Humane Society International (HSI), considered one of a number of charities working to finish the canine meat commerce in Vietnam.
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Hung has now switched his business to buying and selling scrap metallic and promoting fertilizer.
Most of the dogs killed in Vietnam are stolen pets or strays snatched from the streets utilizing poisoned bait, painful taser weapons, or imported from surrounding international locations corresponding to Cambodia, HSI says.
“Whilst we have seen the federal government take some measures, (together with) rising penalties for individuals who steal pet animals, we nonetheless know that there is a large drawback with lack of enforcement,” Lola Webber of HSI instructed AFP.
Authorities in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have urged folks to not eat canine meat, however the commerce continues.
A driver in Ho Chi Minh City final month rammed his automotive into the motorcycle of two males carrying a bag of stolen dogs, state media reported.
