Animal welfare: Essential to bridge legal gaps

Animal welfare is becoming one of the key criteria for sustainable agricultural development and global trade. However, according to World Animal Protection (WAP), Viet Nam currently receives an F rating in the Animal Protection Index (API), reflecting significant gaps in the legal framework, governance, and enforcement mechanisms.

Numerous policy gaps in animal welfare

Speaking at the workshop titled "Enhancing Animal Welfare in Viet Nam: Priority Directions and Multi-stakeholder Coordination Mechanisms," recently held in Hanoi, Dr. Ha Thuy Hanh, Vice President of the Viet Nam Farm and Agricultural Enterprises Association (VFAEA), said that Viet Nam's poultry industry continues to record strong growth. In 2025, the country’s poultry population reached nearly 585 million head, with a total output of approximately 2.6 million tons of meat and more than 21 billion eggs. These indicators are projected to continue rising in 2026, resulting in increasingly stringent requirements for ensuring animal welfare.

According to Dr. Ha Thuy Hanh, approximately 56–58% of Viet Nam's poultry production is currently conducted under commercial and industrial farming models, creating favorable conditions for the adoption of animal welfare standards. However, the existing legal system has yet to keep pace with practical requirements.

Current regulations mainly focus on disease control and food safety assurance, while failing to fully recognize animals' capacity to experience pain, stress, and other natural needs. Many criteria relating to farm animals, state management responsibilities, and the domestication of standards issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) continue to receive low ratings.

Although the Law on Veterinary Medicine 2015 and the Law on Animal Husbandry 2018 introduced requirements for humane treatment in farming, transportation, and slaughter, Viet Nam has yet to establish species-specific standards for livestock such as pigs, broilers, laying hens, dairy cattle, and calves. This is also one of the reasons Viet Nam received a grade of G, the lowest rating in the API assessment, for the indicator on animals used in agriculture.

In addition, regulations on humane transport and slaughter have yet to be fully aligned with international standards. While many countries have established clear requirements on farming density, housing conditions, transport duration, and pre-slaughter stunning methods to minimize pain and stress in animals, Viet Nam's standard system still lacks synchronization.

According to experts, although existing legislation prohibits slaughtering animals in the presence of other animals and requires stunning before slaughter, the lack of species-specific technical guidelines has made implementation difficult in practice, particularly at small-scale slaughter facilities.

Animal welfare concerns also extend beyond farm animals, as many other groups of animals still lack adequate welfare protection. For companion animals, existing regulations primarily focus on preventing and controlling rabies and handling free-roaming dogs in public areas, while humane management systems and animal welfare-based population control for dogs and cats remain absent.

In the entertainment sector, activities involving animals in circuses, tourism, and dog racing still lack specific regulations on working hours, workload, and animal care conditions. For laboratory animals, the application of the 3Rs principles (replacement, reduction, and refinement) is also regarded as an approach that should be adopted promptly to reduce the number of animals used in research and minimize animal suffering.

Another limitation identified by API is that Viet Nam currently lacks a unified focal agency responsible for animal welfare, as well as a national strategy and dedicated resources for this field. The fragmentation in management has resulted in a lack of policy coherence and has left it lagging behind international trends.

Improving the legal framework to enhance competitiveness

According to experts, many countries have already formally recognized animals as living beings capable of experiencing pain, stress, and emotions. This serves as an important foundation for developing modern animal welfare policies.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese law has yet to clearly define animal sentience or incorporate the concept of animal welfare and the "Five Freedoms" principle into its legal framework. As a result, many regulations continue to prioritize disease control and food safety objectives rather than ensuring appropriate living conditions for animals.

Experts have proposed incorporating the concept of animal sentience into the Law on Animal Husbandry and the Law on Veterinary Medicine, while accelerating the domestication of WOAH standards and developing technical standards for each livestock category.

As an increasing number of food corporations, retail chains, and import markets make animal welfare a mandatory requirement in their supply chains, strengthening the legal framework is not only a matter of humane treatment but also an important condition for enhancing the competitiveness of Viet Nam's livestock industry in global markets.

Alongside efforts to improve the policy framework, VFAEA has developed the "Minimum Welfare Standards for Chickens" and recommended the voluntary application in laying hen farming. The standards are based on international benchmarks and focus on five key areas: feed and water, housing environment, farm management, flock health, and biosecurity.

Accordingly, the standards establish a range of specific requirements concerning farming density, living space, nest boxes, perches, litter materials, ventilation and lighting conditions, temperature control, the use of veterinary medicines, and humane euthanasia procedures for sick or severely injured poultry.

According to experts, gradually developing and implementing an animal welfare standards system that is tailored to Viet Nam's practical conditions while remaining aligned with international standards will help improve product quality, meet the requirements of import markets, and promote the development of a modern, sustainable, and responsible livestock sector. In this context, animal welfare will no longer be merely a matter of humane treatment of animals but will also become a competitive advantage for Vietnamese agriculture within the global value chain.