PETITION TARGET: Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh
UPDATE (7/24/20): All wild animal imports — including eggs, organs, and body parts — are now banned in Vietnam after the prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, issued a directive that will also provide harsher penalties for those participating in illegal wildlife markets. This directive comes in the wake of the global coronavirus crisis and hopes to reduce the risk of future pandemics. It does not, however, ban using wildlife for medicinal reasons or keeping wildlife as pets. We will keep advocating for a completely cruelty-free policy. –Lady Freethinker Staff
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In Vietnam and other countries around the world, animals – from snakes, rats and bats to pangolins, dogs and cats – are locked in cages, tortured, slaughtered and sold to crowds of people amongst swarming flies and carcasses. This is both a tragic display of animal abuse and a dangerous health concern for humans, as these wet markets create the ideal breeding ground for zoonotic diseases, including the novel coronavirus.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, has ordered the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to draft a ban on wildlife markets, as the deadly coronavirus pervades the planet and increasingly claims innocent lives. We must support Vietnam’s effort to outlaw these cruel and hazardous environments.
“Buyers find it unbreathable due to the stink of bird droppings and food,” a disturbed visitor told Mirror. “Live birds are locked in cages and in some cases legs are tied into bunches. Sellers also sew their eyes, tape beaks, break wings, pluck feathers and use a mini gas cylinder to quickly cook them alive.”
The prospective ban on Vietnam’s wildlife trade must be implemented as soon as possible with the devastating effects of coronavirus killing thousands of people worldwide. By outlawing this barbaric and unhygienic trade, governments have the power to potentially stop another pandemic and save countless lives, including those of the millions of animals slaughtered for their meat every year.
Please sign this petition urging Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to permanently ban the wildlife trade throughout Vietnam — including using wild animals in medicine and as pets — and strictly enforce the new laws.
