Thái Nguyên, Vietnam – More than 40 dogs, including a litter of 10-day-old puppies, were set free from a slaughterhouse in Vietnam on Friday after its owner quit the dog meat trade.
An estimated five million canines are killed for meat every year in Vietnam — the second highest in the world behind China — with some believing eating the meat can help dispel bad luck while others consider it a delicacy.
But attitudes towards eating dog meat are slowly changing, particularly in cities, as the animals are increasingly kept as pets.
Kieu Viet Hung, who has been working in the trade for the past seven years, on Friday handed 44 dogs over to a shelter, which will care for the animals and try to find them new homes.
“When I used to kill them, I felt sorry for them,” Hung, 39, told AFP at his farm in mountainous Thai Nguyen City, north of Hanoi.
Hung slaughtered up to 20,000…
