Ban South Korean dog and cat meat trade

Wikimedia Commons

SOURCE: ESA

Please send a sample letter (three samples below) urging the ban of the dog and cat meat trade, thank you.

BACKGROUND

Every year, two million South Korean dogs and cats, the majority of whom are homeless, are captured by butchers and sold in open markets. They await the most gruesome fate—dogs are slowly and agonizingly torn apart, electrocuted, strangled, or beaten to death while cats are bludgeoned and boiled alive for human consumption. The cruelty and suffering is one of unimaginable horror.

South Korean’s Animal Protection Law, which was passed in 1991, considers dogs to be “domestic pets,” but the shadowy and illicit world of the dog and cat industry flourishes because of the shameful indifference of the South Korean government.

While the majority of South Koreans are dog and cat lovers, myths and lies surrounding the alleged medicinal properties of the meat persists among a very small minority of the population.

South Koreans have only eaten dogs when poverty has been widespread, as was the case during World War II. Yet even during those punishing times, dogs were treated as companion animals.

Source: IDA website. Read more there.


Local Group Demonstrates Against South Korea’s Consumption of Dogs And Cats

The San Francisco-based animal rights organization In Defense of Animals wants South Koreans to stop eating animals–at least the adorable ones, anyway.

The group is staging a protest in front of San Francisco’s South Korean consulate this Tuesday, where it will be delivering a petition with over 15,000 signatures urging the South Korean government to do more to stop the consumption of dogs and cats inside of its borders.

This week’s event is part of the “International Day of Action for South Korean Dogs and Cats” the organization is simultaneously holding in dozens of cities all over the world.

“While it’s now technically illegal to eat dogs and cats in South Korea, the government has not been good about enforcing the laws, thus allowing the tradition to continue in parts of the country, [In Defense of Animals Campaign Manager Robin] Dorman says. So killing dogs and cats is illegal, but the processing and sale of the animals is not, she added. “The law is deliberately obscure,” Dorman says.” (SF Weekly)

Source: Huffington Post. Read more there.


From All Creatures: Animals In Print The On-Line Newsletter 26 May 2010 Issue

Today, in violation of the Korean Animals Protection Act, two million dogs are raised or trapped for human consumption. Approximately 30% of these dogs are or were family pets, sharing their lives with humans they loved and trusted.

Many people have the impression that dog consumption is a traditional Korean food, this is anything but true. Up until the last 600 years Koreans were mostly Buddhist and living under the Koryo dynasty. The people were encouraged to eat a meat free diets.

When this dynasty came to an end a new country was formed, Korea. Though taking its name from the now defunct dynasty a new belief system and lifestyle began. In the last few hundred years there was a few people that did eat dog though it is was never a cultural habit.

About 50 years ago poverty was severe in South Korea. At this time the extremely impoverished people, did begin to consume dogs. This was not a normal eating habit.

Twenty-five years ago a new trend began to take shape the dog meat industry began to flourish. How did this happen?

Certainly not because of hunger, but due to a false belief system that by consuming the meat of a TORTURED DOG a man may increase his sexual virility. This caused dog flesh to became especially popular and a status symbol among the wealthy. Believing the adrenaline in the tissues of the tortured, slain canine would somehow exert profound effects upon their manhood their demand for this meat grew.

This belief has provided great financial opportunities for dog meat dealers. With millions of dollars to be made, illegal dog farms abound. The government looks the other way while these innocent, trusting creatures are brutalized.

Dogs are usually raised on illegal, rural dog farms, but any dog is actually fair game. Stray and abandoned dogs don’t last long in Korea. The dogs are kept in squalor, they are crammed in wire cages too small for even one dog to be comfortable. The situation is unbearable for these trusting animals. They become dehydrated from lack of proper food and water. They are forced to live in their own wastes and have no protection from extreme weather.

These dogs are exceptionally vulnerable to diseases, especially distemper and are quickly sold to markets or consumers before they appear ill. Because of this, the usual age of slaughter is between eighth months and a one year.

When the dogs are of age they are transported to large open markets. The Hyundai, with its spaciousness, is a favorite vehicle of transportation, accommodating the large cages crammed with dogs. The dogs can be seen piled on top of one another as they travel toward their doom.

They usually go to one of the three largest market places, The Chilsung Market in Taegu City, the Gupo Market in Pusan City, and the Moran Market in Sungnam City. Dogs are also sold in other smaller market places throughout Korea. They can also be found behind restaurants, alive and crammed into small cages, waiting their turn to be tortured and slaughtered.

In the larger markets the dogs are transferred from the vehicles to large cages that can hold up to 800 terrified and confused animals. Most of the dogs in the market place closely resemble each other as they are descendants of generations of interbreeding. Through all of this many of the dogs, once family pets, remain docile and hopeful, wagging their tales when approached by humans.

The market place is a cramped area filled with dogs. Cars are parked in random fashion and people can be seen walking about selecting their dog.

Once a person makes his selection the dog is dragged by a noose around its neck from its cage and purposely tortured until it is allowed to die.

The dog, chosen for sale and slaughter, may be hung, beaten with pipes or hammers and strangled repeatedly. During this atrocity, the dogs my be heard yelping, screaming and howling in agony as they struggle against their captors.

When the dog is assumed dead, it is shocked with an “electric stick”. Remember, difficult as this is to read, this form of violent killing, according to the Koreans, is necessary to both tenderize the flesh and improve its aphrodisiacal properties. The more the dog suffers, the more flavorful and beneficial the meat is thought to be, the more adrenaline. The Korean consumer demands this form of slaughter less the meats affect are nil.

The dog is then taken inside a building where it is placed inside a vat of boiling water. Finally it is removed and butchered according to the buyers discretion.

There, now, is the tragic story of a dogs’ plight in Korea, but what about the cats?

The cat fares no better in South Korea. They are not considered good pets and the few people that do attempt to have a cat in their home find it difficult. There is virtually no cat food or kitty litter to be had. There are very few vets that treat cats. Cats are thought to be a filthy, dangerous to a Korean’s health, and a threat to their well being.

Cats are best served by Koreans as an elixir usually called Liquid Cat or “cat juice.”

To accommodate the customers, the dealer will place cats in a large sack and in what seems to be the tradition, beat them to death. This is done either with a blunt object or just slamming the sack upon the ground, preferably a concrete surface.

The cats, some still alive, are then placed in large pots of boiling water, dates, ginger and chestnuts are added and the final liquefied results are believed to cure rheumatism and neuralgia.

Source: Animals’ Voice, Volume 7, Number 2 Laura Moretti

Source: Jon Bearscove

Source: Kyenan Kum

Source: anonymous Korean citizens.


WHOM TO CONTACT

Send email to government officials and ambassadors by copying and pasting the below addresses into your TO:

consular_usa@mofat.go.kr; kcgboston@mofat.go.kr; chicago@mofat.go.kr; consulatehi@mofat.go.kr; Con-hu@mofat.go.kr; consul-la@mofat.go.kr; info@koreanconsulate.org; consularsf@mofat.go.kr; seattle0404@mofat.go.kr; koreaconsulate@gmail.com; kconsul@guam.net; canada@mofat.go.kr; toronto@mofat.go.kr; vancon@mofat.go.kr; mail@koreaemb.at; czech@mofat.go.kr; korembdk@mofat.go.kr; korembfi@mofat.go.kr; koremb-fr@mofat.go.kr; gremb@mofat.go.kr; korcom@t-online.hu; israel@mofat.go.kr; consul-it@mofat.go.kr; kornor@mofat.go.kr; embpt@mofat.go.kr; koremb.sweden@mofat.go.kr; swiss@mofat.go.kr; turkey@mofat.go.kr; koreanembinuk@mofat.go.kr; korea@un.int; webmaster@koreanembassy.cn; postmaster@koreanculture.jp; economic@koreanembassy.org.nz; koembth@gmail.com; embcoreamx@mofat.go.kr; ecuador@mofat.go.kr; argentina@mofat.go.kr; emb-br@mofat.go.kr; koremb-ge@mofat.go.kr; Embajadadecoreaenchile@gmail.com; peru@mofat.go.kr; koemur@gmail.com; consyd@mofat.go.kr; india_visa@mofat.go.kr; mumbai@mofat.go.kr; korem-my@mofat.go.kr; philippines@mofat.go.kr; info@koreaembassy.org.sg; taipei@mofat.go.kr; korembfj@mofat.go.kr; koremb_in@mofat.go.kr; pakistan@mofat.go.kr; EmbassySeoulPA@state.gov


SAMPLE LETTERS

Sample Letter One

Dear Government Officials and Ambassadors:

Stop this barbaric exploitation and abuse of animals! The cruelty inflicted on dogs and cats in your country is not going unnoticed throughout the world.

Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent message.


Sample Letter Two

Dear Government Officials and Ambassadors:

As an official with the power to make a difference, please use your authority to support an amendment to strengthen South Korea’s Animal Protection Law to ban the torture, killing, sale and consumption of dogs and cats.

Please enforce the South Korean Animal Protection Law to prevent animal cruelty. Provide severe penalties for violations and ensure that mistreated animals can be legally seized. Ban the torture, killing, sale and consumption of dogs and cats.

Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent message.


Sample Letter Three

Dear Government Officials and Ambassadors:

I am appalled and shocked to learn about the rampant cruelties inflicted upon animals that have been documented in South Korea’s live food markets. The dogs and cats are raised in the most hideous and cruel environments, only to be beaten and slaughtered by the millions.

There is no appropriate animal protection legislation to prevent the prevailing animal cruelty currently taking place in South Korea. As someone who believes strongly that animals should not be treated in this way, I have the following requests:

1. I urge the South Korean Government to strengthen the South Korean Animal Protection Law to prevent animal cruelty and to introduce basic animal protection regulations. It must also provide penalties for violations and ensure that mistreated animals can be legally seized from abusers and given immediate refuge.

2. I request that the South Korean Government create an enforceable law to ban the torture, killing, sale, and consumption of dogs and cats.

Thank you for taking the time to read this urgent message.

Be an esoldier!

you have your traditions
we do not understand,
we wish to spread love
throughout your land.
love for all animals,
especially those
who live to love you,
do you suppose,
you could stop killing
and eating your friends,
this is the 21 st century
it is time that this ends!!!!!

Karen Lyons Kalmenson