Humane Society International (HSI) Viet Nam has achieved remarkable milestones since its inception in 2016, working tirelessly to protect animals across the nation. Through a strategic blend of policy advocacy, direct intervention, public awareness, and partnerships, HSI Viet Nam is setting a new standard for animal welfare and wildlife conservation in the country. HSI Viet Nam’s dedicated team operates nationwide, partnering with local communities, government agencies, and private stakeholders to champion policies that improve the welfare of animals both wild and domestic. This month, the Farm Animal Coalition is thrilled to spotlight HSI Viet Nam for their profound contributions to animal welfare in Asia and its sustained, compassionate commitment to creating a better world for animals.
What is HSI Viet Nam about?
Since its formation in 2016, Humane Society International (HSI) Viet Nam has made both steady and dramatic progress in its work for domesticated and wild animals, through a strategic approach that combines planning, careful use of resources, constructive engagement with partners and targeted institutions, and good use of social marketing approaches. HSI Viet Nam launched their work with a particular focus on wildlife issues, and in the intervening years has broadened their engagement to include programs focused on improving the welfare of farmed animals, ending the dog meat trade, protecting companion animals, and responding to emergencies and disasters. Today, HSI Viet Nam works nationwide to protect and improve the welfare of all kinds of animals.
What makes HSI the “Organization of the month”
Wildlife
HSI Viet Nam’s important work for wildlife conservation takes a multi-pronged approach and leverages fieldwork, policy advocacy, and public engagement. Their key areas of concern include human-elephant coexistence, demand reduction for rhino horn through behavior change campaigns, and support for local communities in their efforts to conserve sea turtles.
HSI Viet Nam’s most urgent wildlife coexistence project addresses the drastic decline of wild elephant populations in Viet Nam, where only 100-130 individual animals remain. The efforts HSI Viet Nam has made in Dong Nai Province, home to Viet Nam’s second largest elephant population, have produced valuable insights through population monitoring (via camera traps), human-elephant conflict tracking, and distribution studies. The findings of this initiative have informed the development of science-based solutions, including community-led electric fences and non-confrontational conflict mitigation strategies that support a balanced and healthy elephant population, and have been incorporated into Viet Nam’s National Elephant Conservation Action Plan (VECAP 2022), approved in August 2024.
The handover ceremony of elephant monitoring equipment and the signing of an agreement on corporation in elephant population research in Dong Nai Province. Photo: HSI Viet Nam.
Another wildlife priority has been their rhino horn demand reduction campaign, which in the last year has reached millions with a TV commercial, “When I Grow Up,” aired on 43,895 Vietnam Airlines flights and high-traffic Facebook pages. By September 2024, the video had garnered nearly seven million plays and millions of impressions.
In a partnership centering on sea turtle conservation with Viet Nam’s Department of Fisheries Surveillance, HSI Viet Nam produced 5,000 waterproof handbooks for fishermen on sea turtle rescue procedures. HSI Viet Nam also conducted a comprehensive policy review of bycatch reduction strategies, recommending actions for further reduction of mortality rates over the next decade.
Farm animal welfare and protection
The welfare of animals kept and killed for food involves tremendous suffering, so HSI Viet Nam is working with interested parties to improve the welfare of animals on farms, in transport, and at slaughter. A key focus of their work is to phase out intensive cage and crate confinement of hens in the egg industry and mother pigs in the pork industry. To improve the lives of these animals, HSI Viet Nam is working with governments, corporations, financial institutions, and producers to adopt and implement higher welfare policies and on-farm practices.
HSI Viet Nam’s engagement includes persuading major hotel chains to adopt cage-free egg sourcing and procurement policies, to end the extreme cage confinement of hens in the egg industry. They have supported and provided technical assistance to egg producers such as Ba Huân, VFood, and San Hà, to transition to higher welfare cage-free egg production. HSI Viet Nam is also working with pig producers, companies, as well as with financial institutions, to support phase-out of gestation crates that confine mother pigs for their entire pregnancy (nearly four months). This work is critical to providing millions of animals with lives worth living.
The first laying hen farm to be granted the international Humane Certification, the result of efforts by the HSI Farm Animal Program and Vinh Thanh Dat Company, owner of the cage-free chicken egg brand VFood. Photo: HSI Viet Nam
HSI Viet Nam's comprehensive approach to reform agricultural practices in Viet Nam includes capacity-building initiatives for farmers and others in the sector. In partnership with the National Agricultural Extension Center, HSI Viet Nam hosts annual workshops to train veterinarians, producers and extension officers on animal welfare practices.
Beside HSI Viet Nam’s efforts to improve farming conditions and promote more ethical practices within the industry notwithstanding, there is more work to be done. Looking forward, HSI is deepening its collaboration with universities such as Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, to develop higher welfare cage-free and crate-free model farming operations to demonstrate how new and old producers can incorporate higher welfare systems, based on science and research.
The dog and cat meat trade
During the last several years, HSI Viet Nam has made a concerted effort to tackle the dog and cat meat trade by focusing on the threat to animal welfare and the inherent risks of rabies associated with the trade. In addition, they work with those involved in the trade, such as restaurant and slaughterhouse owners, to facilitate alternative humane livelihoods, as part of their Model for Change program.
With the support of local authorities, HSI Viet Nam has helped close six slaughterhouses, fattening facilities and restaurants since the Model for Change initiative launched in Thai Nguyen province in November 2022. A total of 123 dogs and 40 cats were removed from these premises and rehabilitated at the Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry rescue station before being adopted by local dog and cat lovers. These closures have saved thousands of dogs and cats from cruelty and being slaughtered for human consumption in Thai Nguyen. In November 2024, the first dog meat trade businesses will be closed under the same kind of program in Dong Nai province.
Rescued dogs from a farm in Thai Nguyen Province. Photo: HSI.
In addition, HSI Viet Nam has collaborated with Dong Nai and Thai Nguyen authorities, to improve their rabies vaccination efforts, using HSI’s unique mobile smartphone technology. The training was part of a larger public awareness campaign that included an online contest for students on rabies prevention and companion animal welfare, which drew 103,000 individual students from provincial schools as participants.
HSI Viet Nam has also conducted training workshops on dog and cat behavior, shelter medicine, and spay/neuter techniques for 30 veterinarians in Thai Nguyen and Dong Nai. Improving the humane management of cats and dogs through low-cost spay/neuter, and increasing the accessibility of these services will lead to a healthier future for animals in Viet Nam.
Animal-related emergency and disaster response
A final priority focus for HSI Viet Nam has been animal care in disaster and emergency situations, including a recent instance in which they delivered pet food and supplies to a local animal shelter to support the care of animals rescued from floods after a typhoon in September. HSI Viet Nam has a strong commitment to raising awareness about the need to plan for the care of animals in all stages of disaster response and prevention. Recently, HSI Viet Nam partnered with the Disaster Risk Reduction Partnership, a collaboration involving more than 20 member organizations from UN agencies (UNFAO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, WHO), country embassies and non-governmental organizations, sharing its experience and knowledge regarding emergency relief and support in animal rescue as well as rapid damage and needs assessment in disaster response.
Staff members provided medicine and food for dogs rescued during Typhoon Yagi in Hanoi. Photo: HSI Viet Nam.
HSI Viet Nam has also partnered with the Red Cross of Da Nang city to implement the “Disaster Preparedness and Response for Companion Animals in Viet Nam” Project. This is the first project in Viet Nam aimed at protecting companion animals during natural disasters. The project, spanning over three years (2024-2026), is being carried out in 20 wards and communes across seven districts in Da Nang city.
Evacuation areas for companion animals were first introduced to the community and well received in Da Nang, thanks to the efforts of HSI and its partner, the Red Cross of Da Nang City. Photo: HSI Vietnam.
The project has conducted training activities to raise awareness among local authorities and Red Cross members in the project areas about disaster preparedness for companion animals, including rescue techniques, animal first aid, and the setup and operation of evacuation points that include companion animals. It has also sought to integrate companion animal protection into local disaster preparedness and response activities. The outcomes of the project will be shared with the Viet Nam Red Cross as well as other provinces and cities in the region to promote and scale up the model.
In little more than a decade, HSI Viet Nam has done much to strengthen public awareness and government and corporation action in support of animal welfare. They have found increasing acceptance in all quarters and they are optimistic about the prospects for advancing animal welfare in Viet Nam in the future. HSI Viet Nam is excited about the general course of progress for animals throughout Asia, and they are proud to do their part in securing further advances.
Learn more about HSI on their website, and stay connected by following them on social media!
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