Catherine Besch

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Catherine Besch

Founder and Director
Cat Besch | Founder and Director of Vietnam Animal Aid & Rescue

A lifelong animal lover and animal advocate, Cat left the US in 2007 as she gave up her life riding horses and managing stables in Virginia. Since graduating from American University in Washington, DC with a Bachelor’s degree in International Politics, Cat has lived in several countries around the world working as an English teacher and traveling in Europe, Asia, and South America. She has lived in Vietnam since 2012.

Cat started Vietnam Animal Aid in 2013, with her US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Vietnam’s first and only farmed animal sanctuary and vegan rescue. In 2016 she opened the first nonprofit international clinic in Vietnam which ran for several years before closing due to lack of funding, but the vet project will be reopening this year as a mobile vet clinic and anti-speciesist vet training program.

Prior to her work in Vietnam, she studied International Relations before leaving the US permanently in 2006 to live and travel abroad throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America and she has a Master’s in Disaster Management focused on animals in disaster. Her work in rescue and vegan advocacy on the ground in Vietnam and Europe has given her a firsthand understanding of the political, cultural, and economic context of animal rights in the Global South.

 

To interview Cat, please visit our Media page to find branding materials and a link to schedule an interview.