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The Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival is one of the worst festivals in the world. For the event—which takes place on the ninth day of the eighth month in the Vietnamese lunar calendar—buffaloes are forced to fight each other and are then all killed, whether they win or lose. This is animal abuse, not culture or a heritage that is worth preserving.
See the unbearable cruelty for yourself:
Buffaloes competing in this festival are bought from neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar. The animals are required to meet a wide variety of requirements, including being at least 4 or 5 years old and having a wide chest, bow-shaped horns, toned thighs, and a long tail. These buffaloes are kept in cages, fed an unnatural diet, and meticulously trained to promote aggression. Their horns are sharpened before and between fights, and the animals are even drugged.
Once the festival is over, all the buffaloes used for fighting are slaughtered, in the belief that they will bring the local residents “good fortune and security.”
Torturing and killing animals have never brought anything good into the world, and culture and tradition are no excuse for cruelty. Furthermore, most Vietnamese people don’t support the Do Son Buffalo Fighting Festival and don’t want it to continue.
So far, 12,000 people have signed the petition calling for Vietnam’s minister of culture, sports, and tourism to revoke the national cultural heritage status of the festival and ban all buffalo fighting festivals nationwide.
Unfortunately, Vietnamese authorities still support this archaic bloodbath. Please take a moment to send a message to them and ask them to immediately remove the festival’s national intangible cultural heritage status.