Vietnam Animal Aid and Rescue

Animal Sanctuary Vietnam

Our Mission

Our mission is to end the pain and suffering of all species, through mass sterilization, vaccinations, education, and improving veterinary care across Vietnam. We advocate for a fully vegan lifestyle and for abolition of all animal use and exploitation.

Our Story

Catherine Besch founded the organization in 2013 with a partner as Vietnam Animal Welfare Organization, then split the organization into two separate entities and Vietnam Animal Aid and Rescue-US was born.

Our experience in the field of animal rescue in Vietnam includes opening the first shelter in central Vietnam, starting the first nonprofit veterinary clinic in the country, and opening the first farmed animal sanctuary. Although we no longer have the vet clinic, we are reopening a mobile veterinary service in Fall 2021.
VAAR is currently the only rescue organization that explicitly advocates for a fully vegan lifestyle and for the abolition of all animal use in defence of animal rights, the environment, food security, and public health.

We achieve our goals through vegan education programs, community outreach for animals in need, and through the care and adoption of our rescues at our shelter in Hoi An.

Future Projects

Alternative Livelihoods Projects

There are many avenues to creating a world in which animals are no longer used by humans for food, clothing, research, and entertainment, but if we are to be successful in the long term, we need to develop alternative livelihoods for the people who are currently working in industries that harm animals.

As fishing is the number one killer of animals in the world, we must address shifting economies of coastal countries such as Vietnam in addition to dietary shifts if we are to make any progress.

Animal farmers in Vietnam are often small holder farmers with under 30 animals, and as the rural poor often have few other economic opportunities offered to them, animal production continues to be supported by communities and by the government, but this can change. In 2022, we will be working on a small scale with investment and training in fishing and farming communities to make the switch to plant based farming in both the sea and on land.

Vegan Homestay

As we work towards leaving our property of seven years to a larger and more rural property where the animals will have more space, we would like to develop that space better for more purposes than just the shelter.

We would use this as our base for the mobile veterinary work where both staff and our equipment will stay when not out on the road. It will also be used for training our vet interns and local government vets.

While we can use this property for our vegan education programs for children, we are hoping to find a space where we can also house visitors who are looking for a safe space for animals where they can enjoy a quiet holiday at a vegan farmstay. This property isn’t easy to find in Vietnam as getting large pieces of land is not as easy as it is in many other countries, but we are going to try hard to get to the right land and develop that slowly over the coming year.

Rescue and Farm Sanctuary

Our Animals

We have a small property for our rescue shelter and farmed animal microsanctuary that houses around 35 animals at any given time in our large, secure garden for the dogs and hedgehogs, an indoor/outdoor cat enclosure for the cats, and a barn for the two pigs.

We keep our numbers of rescues low in order to ensure that the animals in our care on our small property will always have the highest welfare possible and that we can have the time, money, and human and material resources to care for each and every one for as long as they are with us.

We have no more intake now simply because we are too full and working on moving with as few animals as possible. We are seeking a larger property outside of the city this Spring to develop for a vegan farmstay and the base for our mobile veterinary work.

Not all of our rescues are up for adoption, but we have cats, dogs, and hedgehogs looking for new families. Our chickens and pigs are sanctuary animals and some of our older or chronically ill cats and dogs will stay with us their whole lives.

Vegan Education

Education Programs

We have been doing education programs for schoolchildren at the shelter since 2015 and have also had several local welfare groups come for training over the years.

These programs have focused on teaching basics in animal rights and animal care and why caring for animals means acknowledging the suffering of all species rather than just pets. Children must be taught that a water buffalo, tuna, monkey, pig, squid, cat, or dog all have the same desires for living a life free from pain and suffering. If we focus education programs only on companion animals, the message gets confusing as kids are taught to love some animals and participate in the industrialized torture and unnecessary killing of others.

If we teach children that all animals are morally significant and we acknowledge that humans have no right to use them for our pleasure, amusement, or convenience, we will finally make some headway in combating speciesism in society and we can finally begin to protect animal rights for all species equally.

We hope to get this program rolling again by fall as soon as we are able to move the property to a different location. We are working to get more vegan festivals in our region as well as they have been popular and well attended in the past few years in Vietnam.