South Korean dog and cat meat industry to face protests

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This video provides an inside look at South Korea's dog and cat meat industry. (In Defense of Animals)

Animal rights activists are organizing an Aug. 7“international day of action” to build public support against what they call South Korea’s inhumane dog and cat meat industry.

In Defense of Animals (IDA) plans protests, leafleting and information tables in cities across the United States, including Washington, D.C., and in several foreign countries, including South Korea. A list of activities is posted here.

According to IDA, 2.5 million dogs and thousands ofcats are cruelly killed each year in South Korea for human consumption. Dogs are electrocuted, hanged and beaten to death. Cats are bludgeoned and boiled alive in water.

“The killing is intentionally vicious because of a myth that the more an animal is tortured, the tastier and more tender the meat,” IDA says.

While many of the animals come from breeding farms, some are believed to be abandoned or stolen pets. At farms, dogs are fed rotting food, which poses a health risk not only to them but to the people who eat them, the group says.

IDA has worked for years to try to put the $2-billion-a-year industry out of business. Robin Dorman, director of IDA’s South Korean Dog and Cat Campaign, said the government has a law on the books that ostensibly protects dogs and cats from being killed for food, but the measure is not enforced. Considered a delicacy South Korea, dog and cat meat is sold in outdoor stores and served in an estimated 20,000 restaurants.

South Korea’s government “sanctions this by essentially turning a blind eye,” Dorman told Examiner.com.

Several South Korean groups are also working to ban the sale of dog and cat meat. They include Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) and Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE).

“The exploitation and abuse of animals is a big problem in Korea, made worse by weak animal protection enforcement and an uninformed public,” KARA says on its website. “KARA works to educate the public about the ethical issues surrounding animal protection in Korea.”

On July 18, animal rights groups held an anti-dog meat campaign in Seoul. Signs declared, “Dog meat is a vice we must break” and “Dog meat is Korea’s disgrace.” Dogs wore small signs pleading, “Don’t eat me.”

A spokesman for the South Korean embassy in Washington, D.C., declined to comment.

http://www.examiner.com