Announced an end to the brutal killing of pigs and buffaloes at annual festivals such as the Nem Thuong festival which sees pigs tied up and hacked to death with a sword for festival attendees to dip their money into the pigs blood, supposedly for good luck.
This slaughter and the barbaric slaughter of buffaloes in Phu Tho Province, have been a serious ‘blot’ on Vietnam’s international image for many years, we are delighted to hear that the Animals Asia campaign (backed by the Asia for Animals Coalition) to end these practices has finally resulted in the Vietnamese minister announcing an end to them in the future.
Predictably their is opposition to this announcement from the festival organisers, but the minister has issued a strong message to all concerned that these killings must not happen in the future, and this coupled with the strength of feeling both within Vietnam and internationally against these barbaric acts will hopefully be enough to ensure that the local authorities take action and prevent these killings from taking place at subsequent festivals.