Southeast Asia

Vietnam

Vietnam is the country at the centre of three of WARN's most urgent appeals: moon-bear bile-farming retirement, the cat meat trade, and pangolin trafficking interdiction.

Vietnam is a Southeast Asian country where WARN's planned work focuses on three connected welfare problems: ending the moon-bear bile-farming industry in partnership with the national phase-out, the cat meat trade that handles several million cats per year, and pangolin and big-cat-part trafficking demand reduction.

Key Facts About Vietnam

Bile farming officially banned since 2005; national phase-out continuing with several hundred bears still on private farms.
Several million cats slaughtered each year for the cat meat trade, predominantly in the north.
Major demand-market country for trafficked rhino horn, pangolin scales and tiger bone.
Vietnam is home to the Indochinese tiger, moon bear, sun bear and slow loris.
Our planned Vietnam work centres on sanctuary support for retired bile bears and cat-meat-trade rescue.

What is the wildlife situation in Vietnam?

Vietnam is both a wildlife source and a wildlife demand country. The Annamite range hosts a globally significant biodiversity hotspot. Urban demand markets — particularly Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City — drive the consumption end of the regional wildlife trade in pangolins, rhino horn and big-cat bone.

What is WARN preparing to do in Vietnam?

Three connected programmes: (1) a forested moon-bear sanctuary in northern Vietnam to receive bears retired from closing bile farms; (2) support for partner rescues working against the cat meat trade; (3) demand-reduction work on traditional-medicine wildlife products.

Why Vietnam matters

Three of WARN's largest single-species appeals (moon bears, cats, pangolins) all converge in Vietnam. National policy momentum on bile farming and the cat trade gives a real window for rescue capacity to scale up to meet demand.

Key Species in Vietnam

Vulnerable

Moon bear (Asiatic black bear)

Vulnerable

Sun bear

Critically Endangered

Sunda pangolin

Endangered

Indochinese tiger

Endangered / Vulnerable

Slow loris (multiple species)

Vietnam FAQ

Is the cat meat trade legal in Vietnam?

Vietnam has not formally banned the cat meat trade nationally, though several cities have committed to phase-out. WHO has documented the trade's role in rabies transmission.

Are bile-farm bears released into the wild?

No. Almost no rescued bile-farm bear can be released — they have spent years in cages, have skeletal damage and chronic disease, and require lifetime sanctuary care.

Latest from Vietnam

Two stray cats — one grey tabby, one calico — sitting in a narrow Vietnamese street alley with yellow-painted walls

Briefings

Vietnam's Forgotten Cats: One Million a Year and the Hidden Side of the Meat Trade

Stray dog looking out from a wire enclosure in Southeast Asia

Briefings

Ten Million Dogs and Cats: The Hidden Scale of Southeast Asia's Meat Trade

A wild Asiatic black bear (moon bear) in a forest clearing, showing the distinctive cream crescent marking on its chest

Briefings

Bear Rescue in Vietnam: Inside the Moon Bear Crisis

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