Seoul “will shut down all dog slaughterhouses” vowed the city’s mayor as South Korea’s dog meat trade faces increasing calls to terminate them immediately from many quarters according to The Daily Mail.
“Seoul mayor, Park Won-soon, vowed to close all dog butcheries in the city and made the announcement to an audience at the weekend after a screening of an animated film called Underdog.”
The movie is about abandoned dogs that find themselves in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
8,500 dogs are estimated to be abandoned in Seoul and “a quarter of them are euthanized because they are not adopted,” he told the crowd.
Olympian skier Gus Kenworthy was famously upset at the situation that many potential canine companions have to endure in South Korea while he was there for the Olympics last year.
Elite Daily said last year: “[Kenworthy] leaves PyeongChang, this amazing human will be adding another four-legged little pooch — rescued from a dog meat farm — to the mix. Gus Kenworthy’s post about dogs in South Korea is so sad, but at least there’s a happy twist. Not only did he save one sweet pup by adopting her, he is now giving a voice to the voiceless with a raw and emotional post about the experience on Instagram.”
Kenworthy and his boyfriend ended up adopting a pup before they returned stateside saying in a post on Instagram: “This morning Matt and I had a heart-wrenching visit to one of the 17,000 dog farms here in South Korea. Across the country there are 2.5 million dogs being raised for food in some of the most disturbing conditions imaginable. Yes, there is an argument to be made that eating dogs is a part of Korean culture. And, while don’t personally agree with it, I do agree that it’s not my place to impose western ideals on the people here. The way these animals are being treated, however, is completely inhumane and culture should never be a scapegoat for cruelty. I was told that the dogs on this particular farm were kept in “good conditions” by comparison to other farms. The dogs here are malnourished and physically abused, crammed into tiny wire-floored pens, and exposed to the freezing winter elements and scorching summer conditions. When it comes time to put one down it is done so in front of the other dogs by means of electrocution sometimes taking up to 20 agonizing minutes. Despite the beliefs of some, these dogs are no different from the ones we call pets back home. Some of them were even pets at one time and were stolen or found and sold into the dog meat trade. Luckily, this particular farm (thanks to the hard work of the Humane Society International and the cooperation of a farmer who’s seen the error of his ways) is being permanently shut down and all 90 of the dogs here will be brought to the US and Canada where they’ll find their fur-ever homes. I adopted the sweet baby in the first pic (we named her Beemo) and she’ll be coming to the US to live with me as soon as she’s through with her vaccinations in a short couple of weeks. I cannot wait to give her the best life possible! There are still millions of dogs here in need of help though (like the Great Pyrenees in the 2nd pic who was truly the sweetest dog ever). I’m hoping to use this visit as an opportunity to raise awareness to the inhumanity of the dog meat trade and the plight of dogs everywhere, including back home in the US where millions of dogs are in need of loving homes!”
