Mê Thú Cưng - Pet Magazine for Vietnam | Số 5 | Issue Five | Animal Welfare Vietnam | Page 46

Mê Thú Cưng

Nội dung 40 61

A Report from the First
Annual Vietnam Animal
Welfare Conference
By Catherine ‘Cat’ Besch

The weekend of September 13-14, 2014 was monumental for organizations
all over Vietnam working in animal welfare. The first annual Vietnam
Animal Welfare Conference took place over two days in Ho Chi Minh City at
the historic Saigon Continental Hotel. Along with dozens of representatives
from animal welfare organizations throughout Vietnam were speakers from
the Humane Society International, Animals Asia, the Environment and
Animal Society of T
aiwan, the Hanoi University of Agriculture, Hanoi Pet
Rescue, and the Asia Canine Protection Alliance. With attendees from both
the large international organizations and local organizations in Vietnam,
the mixing of minds was profound and will hopefully set the precedent for
future collaborations between the attendees.

I was honored to have taken part in several

panel discussions along with colleagues
from larger organizations and I felt that this
combination was useful for providing different
perspectives on the issues at hand. The issues
discussed ranged from farm animals and
wildlife to the pressing issues confronting
companion animals in Vietnam. As the
conference was held in both Vietnamese and
English with help from two translators, both
foreign and Vietnamese representatives were
able to get a comprehensive understanding
of international animal welfare and of the
problems facing Vietnam specifically.
What was most valuable about the conference
for me was that there was a lot of information
focused on the connection between adopting
a vegetarian or vegan diet and the animal
rights movement as a whole. The sad state
of affairs for farm animals both globally and
locally is not often addressed in discussions of
animal welfare. However, several conference
speakers highlighted the fact that vegetarianism
addresses environmental problems and human
health as well as animal rights. Animal welfare
is frequently discussed in the context of
protection of endangered animals or species
that we keep as pets, but the speakers as well

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as the organizers, Yeu Dong
Vat (YDV) from Ho Chi Minh
City, were quick to remind the
audience that we are obligate