Officials at Tran Van Thoi District in Ca Mau Province hold a meeting after 15 dogs and a cat are culled at a local Covid-19 quarantine area on October 10
Addressing a conference on Sunday, chairman of Tran Van Thoi District People's Committee, Tran Tan Cong confirmed that 15 dogs and a cat that belonged to the family of Pham Minh Hung had been culled by the local Covid-19 prevention and control team.
According to a report from local authorities, they received Pham Minh Hung, his wife and their 15 dogs and one cat at 10.30 pm on October 8. Hung and his wife had returned from Long An Province with his younger brother's family of three people. The two families were sent to a quarantine area for Covid-19 prevention at Khanh Hung High School.
Pham Minh Hung and his dogs arrive at a Covid-19 quarantine area in Ca Mau Province on October 8
While the five people went to take samples for Covid-19 test, the dogs ran around the area and this scared people.
Four out of five members of the two families including Hung then tested positive for Covid-19 and were sent to a local hospital for treatment.
The management board at the quarantine area asked Hung to take care of their animals to ensure safety and hygiene at the area, or else they will have to be culled. However, the officials said Hung made no efforts to comply.
"At the quarantine areas we have a lot of work to do to take care of people while trying to prevent Covid-19," the official continued to claim. "After the owners of the dogs tested positive for the virus, there were threats of a possible spread of the virus from the animals to other people. We also received lots of complaints from people staying here who were worried about the threat. And so we decided to cull all the animals."
According to the official, since the beginning of October, over 24,000 people have returned to the province and many quarantine facilities in the areas have become overloaded.
"We had to prioritise pandemic prevention," he said. "However, we admitted that we were a bit hasty in dealing with this case and we will be adjusting the management methods in the coming time."
Hung’s group left Long An on October 8. They travelled on two motorbikes to his hometown in Ca Mau and were sent to quarantine upon arrival.
A reporter of the Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper managed to contact Hung on the phone on October 10 but the man refused to comment on the issue, saying he was too tired at the moment.
Hung and his dogs had become well-known after a clip of his large family travelling home on a motorbike on October 8 went viral on many social websites. The story angered animal lovers who criticised the local authorities for their inhumane action.