Some decades ago, when we first began our efforts to advance our animal protection campaigns outside the United States, I could only dream of the positive outcomes for animals we might witness in the broader world. Now, virtually every day, in country after country, we see the work unfold. We see our friends, colleagues and our partners in action—responding to animal-related emergencies, supporting humane street dog management programs, fighting the wildlife trade and working with food service providers to improve the welfare of farmed animals and promote plant-based options, to mention only a few priorities.
Humane Society International’s presence in Viet Nam is emblematic of the striking success of our country offices. It boosted my spirits to see their achievements featured in a blog for Asia for Animals, even as I prepared to celebrate with supporters and colleagues the 70th anniversary of our founding, which we’ll do at our annual gala, To the Rescue!, in New York City. This year, the event focuses on our work to end the dog and cat meat trades in a handful of countries, including South Korea, China, Indonesia, India and Viet Nam.
Our team in Viet Nam has accomplished so much in less than a decade of existence. From their earliest campaigns focusing on wildlife protection, to their recent success in advancing cage-free and other reforms affecting farmed animals, they have a lot to show for their efforts. They’ve established meaningful partnerships with government agencies to address street dog issues, rabies transmission and the dog and cat meat trade. They’ve negotiated supply chain reforms with major food service providers, implemented innovative field research to help Viet Nam’s threatened elephants, and they’ve worked hard on public awareness and public policy campaigns to end the use of rhino horn.
This account of HSI’s work in Viet Nam was a powerful reminder of the growth of our country office network across the globe, which has been a personal and professional priority for me for a quarter century. Early in my career, I realized that the expansion of our work beyond the United States was both urgent and essential and I resolved to make it a signature element of my own commitment to the organization and its cause.
In that vein, it’s worth noting that our team in Viet Nam contributes to a broader universe of advocacy that has emerged throughout Asia in recent years. The proliferation of passionate animal protection advocates and organizations in this region is one of the most exciting developments in the field. There is hardly an animal issue that is not international in scope, and increasingly we find that effective advocacy requires that we pursue our concerns across national borders. Whether it’s animal fighters, factory farmers, trophy hunters, fur producers, dog and cat meat traders or wildlife traffickers, they’re active in many places. Even when we’ve extinguished a particular cruelty in one nation or region, we must look out for the possibility that some of the industries and interests we target might be launching efforts to establish a foothold in another country.
We don’t let that happen, because we don’t shift the problems around. We do our best to end them, by helping to pass laws in countries even before industries and interests tied to animal cruelty try to gain any new footholds. We chase such industries down wherever they try to spread, with the same effective tactics we’ve been using throughout our history.
Our founders wanted first and foremost to build a new kind of organization to take on cruelties of national scope in the United States, cruelties that were beyond the capacity of local animal welfare societies. Today we have extended beyond international borders, in a way beyond anything that our founders could only have imagined. Every one of us associated with the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International is playing a part in helping realize and evolve our predecessors’ dream of bringing principled, practical and effective advocacy for animals to every corner of the world. I’m excited to be able to dream now of the greater impact to come.
