The move is certainly a step in the right direction, though it remains to be seen which concrete steps local authorities will take to honor their promise.
This morning, December 10, the Hoi An People’s Committee signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with animal rights NGO Four Paws regarding an initiative to establish Hoi An as a welcoming tourism destination that says no to the consumption of dog and cat meat and assists in the eradication of rabies, Tuoi Tre reports.
The agreement will go into force immediately and run for two years. It was the result of a year of work between municipal authorities and Four Paws Viet, a sister organization of Four Paws International. For the duration of the campaign, Hoi An will conduct measures to improve animal welfare through vaccination programs, promotional materials to improve local awareness, and efforts to rescue dogs and cats from trafficking and kidnapping.
Nguyễn Thế Hùng, vice chairman of the Hoi An People’s Committee, emphasized the MOU is a humane decision: “The project to establish Hoi An as a welcoming tourism destination that doesn’t consume dog and cat meats and assists in the eradication of rabies fits in nicely with our vision to develop an ecological, cultural, tourist city.”
Hoi An’s latest agreement brings to mind a similar stance taken by Hanoi in 2018, when capital officials announced that they would work to eliminate dog meat from the city center by 2021 so as to promote Hanoi as a “civilized and modern” destination in the eyes of tourists. It’s now 2021, and the results are mixed, to say the least.
According to Four Paws, over 5 million dogs and 1 million cats are sold and killed every year for meat in Vietnam, posing immense public health risks and infringing on animal rights. Not only that, as dog farms are nearly non-existent, the majority of dogs consumed are stolen pets.
There are some more optimistic figures, nonetheless, as data by Four Paws shows that only 6.3% of Vietnamese eat dog meat, while 88% of the public supports an official ban on the dog and cat meat trades.
