On October 19, British actor Peter Egan tweeted about the World Dog Alliance (WDA)’s campaign for a ban on dog and cat meat in Vietnam.
On February 9, 2016, the WDA published a petition on a parliamentary page through the UK’s largest public relations firm. On April 7, the petition received 10,000 signatures, reaching the government’s response threshold. On August 1, 100,000 British signatures were collected, reaching the threshold for a parliamentary debate. A parliamentary petition is only valid for six months, but the WDA met the threshold in five months! In the same period, there were more than 400 petitions, only five of which collected 100,000 signatures by the deadline. According to other statistics, the WDA’s text was circulated by 4 million Britons and retweeted by more than 100,000 people.
On August 8, the petition was signed by 102,131 British people. In response to the outcry, the British Parliament held a debate on September 12 and passed a motion to support the British government to put pressure on the Korean authorities. In the end, the Korean government closed the Mudan Dog Market, the largest dog meat market in the country, under the pressure of the UK. During the debate, then Scottish National Party member Paul Monaghan stressed that the WDA has provided us with important information about the cruelty of dog meat consumption in Asia. This alone shows the influence of the UK in animal protection.
In 2022, the WDA is determined to reshape history and promote a ban on dogs and cats in Vietnam. British citizens and people living in the UK are eligible to sign this petition.