As some of the world slowly starts to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic for many the effects are still being felt. No-more so than in countries with large numbers of stray animals. In Southeast Asia and Bali the last four months have presented new challenges to overcome in order to feed as many mouths as possible but our teams have persevered and we have fed over 3,600 stray dogs and cats.

The stray problem is also active across Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam too, but here it feeds the booming dog and cat meat trade. So in addition to the stray population feeding and management programmes the teams are also continuing to lobby across Southeast Asia to eradicate the dog and cat meat trade.

After working in Cambodia since 2018 we’re seeing real headway being made as last week Siem Reap declared it was banning dog meat. This is the first province in Cambodia to take such a bold step and we hope it’s leading the way for others to follow. But, we’re not celebrating just yet, and instead we’re finalising the plans to close another dog slaughterhouse in the country. This closure will remove all dogs from the site and spare them from a brutal death, and save thousands more by closing one of the biggest suppliers in the region.

Dr Polak, FOUR PAWS Head of Stray Animal Care - Southeast Asia says that these wins are what drive her and the dream on; 

Despite being miles away we can still do out bit to #LiveKinder and help by joining the 820,000 people who have signed the petition calling for an end to the trade. Can we count on you to help us get this petition to a million?