FOUR PAWS Ha Tinh investigation
Investigation & Exposure
In Effect
January 1, 2022
Summary
In 2022, FOUR PAWS conducted a covert investigation into the illegal trafficking of dogs and cats through Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam, documenting the transport of dogs and cats in passenger buses and other vehicles along major highways, and conditions at collection and slaughter points. The investigation produced photographic and video evidence subsequently published under the title “Highway to Hell” and used in FOUR PAWS’ 2024–2025 advocacy communications on the dog and cat meat trade in Vietnam. Ha Tinh Province functions as a key corridor for the inter-provincial movement of dogs and cats sourced for the meat trade, including animals trafficked from northern provinces toward central and southern markets. The investigation documented specific transport routes, the use of passenger transport infrastructure for live animal movement, and the conditions and practices at collection and slaughter sites within the province. The investigation’s findings were incorporated into FOUR PAWS’ evidentiary base for advocacy directed at Vietnamese national and local authorities and for public communications framing the structural dimensions of the illegal dog and cat trafficking system. No specific enforcement cases or prosecutions directly attributable to the Ha Tinh investigation are documented in sources consulted. FOUR PAWS had been conducting parallel campaign activities in Vietnam during this period, including the Hoi An MoU with the Hoi An People’s Committee (documented in a separate SE Development record) and the “This is not Vietnam” petition campaign targeting national authorities.
Background Context
Before the 2022 investigation, FOUR PAWS and Change for Animals Foundation had published research on the cat meat trade in Vietnam (2020), establishing an evidentiary base on the companion-species-as-food system prior to the Ha Tinh fieldwork. The dog and cat meat trade in Vietnam at the time was estimated by FOUR PAWS at approximately six million dogs and cats slaughtered annually (a campaign figure, not independently verified in official statistics). Dog and cat meat sale and consumption were legal in Vietnam at the national level; a 1998 ban on cat meat consumption had been rescinded in 2020. Ha Tinh Province is situated along a major north-south transport corridor, making it structurally significant for inter-provincial live animal movement.
System Impact
Direction
Neutral / Administrative
Type
Exposes System
Significance
Moderate
The Ha Tinh fieldwork was conducted in 2022; FOUR PAWS’ “Highway to Hell” publication describes the investigation’s findings and was referenced in 2024–2025 campaign communications. The investigation produced photographic and video evidence of live animal transport in passenger buses and other vehicles along major highways in Ha Tinh Province, and of conditions at collection and slaughter points. These materials were incorporated into FOUR PAWS’ campaign and advocacy communications, including presentations to Vietnamese authorities and international audiences. FOUR PAWS deployed the investigation findings in the context of broader campaigns including the “This is not Vietnam” petition (33,000 Vietnamese signatures presented to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam in July 2022, scaled to 2 million+ global signatures by mid-2024) and the nationwide “Road to Compassion” truck tour (Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hanoi, June 2024). No enforcement actions or prosecutions specifically linked to the Ha Tinh investigation are documented in sources consulted. The investigation remains in the public domain as an ongoing evidentiary resource for FOUR PAWS’ Vietnam advocacy.
Anticipated Effects
If the Ha Tinh investigation findings are used by enforcement and policy actors, the documented transport routes and practices could inform targeted enforcement operations regarding inter-provincial dog and cat trafficking in Vietnam.
Whether the investigation has produced measurable changes in the volume of dog and cat trafficking through Ha Tinh Province or in enforcement intensity along the documented routes is not established in available sources.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Neutral / Administrative (impact direction) because the investigation documents existing trafficking infrastructure and practices without documented enforcement outcomes, closures, prosecutions, or measurable changes in the trafficking system directly attributable to the investigation in sources consulted.
Assigned Exposes System (impact type) because the primary mechanism is the covert capture and publication of evidence documenting trafficking routes, transport methods, and slaughter conditions, making non-public operational information about the dog and cat meat trade accessible to advocacy, enforcement, and policy audiences.
Assigned Moderate significance because the investigation provides system-level documentation of trafficking infrastructure across a province representing a key corridor in Vietnam’s dog and cat meat supply chain, contributing meaningfully to the evidentiary base for policy advocacy, while not producing documented operational changes in the trafficking system.
Impact direction is Neutral / Administrative; the trajectory sentence is not applicable.
Key Actors
FOUR PAWS (Four Paws International) conducted and published the investigation; the FOUR PAWS Vietnam country team managed local operations. The investigation documents unnamed operators of passenger bus services and collection/slaughter facilities in Ha Tinh Province as the subjects of the investigation. Enforcement bodies receiving investigation evidence are not specifically named in sources consulted.
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