Mê Thú Cưng - Pet Magazine for Vietnam | Số 5 | Issue Five | Animal Welfare Vietnam | Page 75

Animal Rescue & Care Vietnam 66 77
Running our organizations even on
the smallest scales in small towns,
should be more professional if we
intend to be taken seriously. Animal
welfare organizations provide a vital
social service to humans (even those
that do not care about animals) by
working towards eliminating stray
dog populations through sterilization,
eradicating zoonotic diseases such
as rabies, and protecting biodiversity
among many other social impacts.
We are relevant to far more than just
the individual animals we save and
we need to utilize this point in order
to gain acceptance amongst the
other development sectors where we
belong.
What is lacking in many development
sectors, not just animal welfare, is
a lack of education on the specifics
of the work we do. Animal welfare
specialists often come from varied
backgrounds and get into the work
they do out of passion for the cause,
yet lack the knowledge that an
accountant or lawyer might have
about their specific field. I have a
degree in International Politics and
a nearly finished Master’s degree
in Disaster Management, and even
though I have always worked with
animals as a horse trainer or with
rescues in the US, I have a lot of
catching up to do in many areas
of nonprofit administration and
animal welfare work. This is difficult,
frustrating work that requires us to
know a lot more than simply how to
take care of animals.
Around the world, there are now
animal welfare, animal behavior,
and other animal science degrees
that better prepare people to work in
animal welfare related jobs. While
bringing this to universities in
Vietnam is not impossible, I recognize
that it will take many years to simply
have the professors for such a
program that will have the knowledge
to build a curriculum and to carry
out the courses. The time to start
building this is now. Turning animal
welfare into a career that children can
choose throughout their education

will have a huge impact on how
organizations run and how the long
term strategy of animal welfare plays
out over the decades.

Veterinary Capacity building
Going to the vet in Vietnam, as a
foreigner or Vietnamese, can be
a harrowing experience. Animals
in pain, infectious disease, lack of
pharmaceuticals, poor understanding
of basic procedures such as
sterilization, and atrocious bedside
manners are common complaints.
Vets come out of university with
such basic knowledge that a vet
assistant in the US, the lowest level
of a licensed worker in an American
veterinary clinic, is better educated
in animal care, medication, and
procedures than the average fresh
graduate of a veterinary university
here in Vietnam. On a small scale
for individuals this is just scary and
upsetting to not have the care we
need for our pets, but on a larger
scale, it is crippling the advancement
of animal welfare in Vietnam. The
voice that pet owners listen to is
their vet and if their vet cannot
explain to them the advantages of
sterilization or perform the surgery,
we have a real problem. Let’s better
educate the voices that the average
pet owner will listen to and then
our message will be heard. Provide
them with the tools, training, and
facilities to carry out their work at a
much higher level and to preach the
message of animal welfare. This is
an expensive and time consuming
project, but it will help our cause
significantly. One of the best ways to
do this is by getting assistance from
international veterinary universities
and international animal welfare
organizations to help through
collaboration with training of
practicing vets and the development
of curriculums and standards of
Vietnamese veterinary universities..

The Big Picture
In order for lasting progress to be
made, I’d like to see animal welfare
organizations and individual rescuers

Mê Thú Cưng
generally look at the bigger picture
and the long term strategy to end
animal suffering. With each individual
animal we rescue, every donation we
get, and every opportunity to educate
the public on animal welfare, we
should look at how that situation fits
in that picture.