A little girl in Binh Thuan picked up a dog bait shaped like a lollipop and put it in her mouth. The little girl and her sister were watering plants with their mom inside their fenced front yard, alongside their neighbor’s yard. Within seconds the mother saw her young daughter had something in her mouth with a black substance, and her tongue was numb. The mother immediately poked the girl’s throat to vomit and scooped water into her mouth.

In less than five minutes the little girl was thrashing in violent convulsions. Her eyes had already rolled back as she was urgently rushed to hospital. She stopped breathing as she arrived at Binh Thuan Provincial General Hospital. Cyanide and sulfur are common ingredients for dog thief baits.

Doctors at the hospital worked on the little girl for an hour, desperately trying to revive her as her hysterical mother wept uncontrollably for her baby’s life. The little girl was dead and could not be revived.

The mother brought the bait with her to the hospital hoping it would help doctors save her baby. She also had black mucus stuck to her hands, from her convulsing baby’s mouth.

The family do not have a dog but the neighbors do. Its believed dog thieves threw the bait to try and poison the neighbor’s dog through the fence. Local residents complained many dog baits are regularly thrown alongside roads by dog thieves who want quick cash for drugs.

Police removed the dog bait which the mother brought to the hospital. Footage from street security cameras is being used in the police investigation to find the dog thieves.

Last month in Thuan Bac district two little 4 year old girls were playing in their fenced front yard. They saw lollipops wrapped in paper so they shared them. Within minutes both little girls went into violent convulsions with severe breathing difficulties. They were rushed to hospital where one of the girls died and could not be revived.

Local Vietnamese people should not have to live in fear of their children or pets being poisoned in their own fenced yards. The government needs to hear the voice of their own people living in Vietnam and bring in animal protections laws. This would be the first step to ending Vietnam’s cruel dog and cat meat trades, which in turn would end dog thief activity.

Fight Dog Meat will continue to bring you reports from dog and cat meat countries and the wonderful work their rescuers are doing despite no animal protection laws. Turning away or sitting quietly does not end the trade. We’ll keep exposing what is taking place to these animals. We’re helping local volunteers have a louder voice on a world platform. Ultimately it’s the voice of the country’s own people whom their government will eventually be forced to listen to, for positive change for animals.

Thank you for reading,

Michele Brown
Founder,
Fight Dog Meat.