Animals Asia founder and CEO Jill Robinson MBE writes for the Huffington Post on how animal welfare has emerged from the shadows to become a hot topic in Vietnam.

Coverage in the Vietnamese media makes one thing abundantly clear -- the general public in Vietnam is more engaged in animal welfare than ever before.

Many years ago when Animals Asia first began working here, there were few people willing to champion animal rights. Now it's difficult for people outside the area to imagine just what a hot topic it is.

Earlier this year, the photo of a young girl crying next to a cooked dog went viral, with many citizens outraged by the assumption that the dog had previously been her companion. Her tear-stained face found itself featured in headline news as people wrote in with stories of how they'd been similarly devastated when family dogs had been slaughtered.

Vietnam's dog meat industry is a dark one, rife with cruelty and illegality as hundreds of dogs are snatched from streets or family gardens by roving bands of dog thieves. At a restaurant you might not be eating your own companion, but chances are you're eating someone else's. People are increasingly aware of this and calling for the authorities to take action.

Read the full piece in the Huffington Post. 

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