Korean and Taiwanese groups unite to protest dog eating

The Taiwanese animal protection group EAST was the first Asian group to respond to their Korean colleagues' request by hosting a joint press conference with Korean groups CARE and KAAP in Taipei on 8th April 2008. The Koreans need more groups like EAST and other individuals to support this campaign.

At the press conference the groups, together with sympathetic Taiwanese legislators, urged the public to protest to the Seoul City Mayor and new Korean President, Mr Lee. Video clips about the cruel practices involved in raising, selling and slaughtering these animals were released to the media.

Ms. So-Yeon Park, from CARE, Korea, described the conditions at dog breeding farms in Korea. Many farms will use needles to puncture puppies’ eardrums to make them less sensitive to noise and prevent barking. To stop the dogs from fighting, they are usually crowded into cages not just during transport, but also at the breeding farm and the market. Some of them are even forced into contorted shapes before pushing them into a cage.  The dogs are fed waste products – apparently proper food reduces the quality of the meat. They are not usually given any water. Injuries and sickness are ignored by the breeders. The waste from the animals is not cleaned regularly, and the dogs are stuck in these conditions until they are killed.  Usually a male dog is slaughtered when it is only 7 months old, while a female dog will be killed after having two or three litters.

There is no difference between local and pedigreed dogs – they are all sold as food. The breeds eaten include Yorkshire Terriers, Maltese dogs and Cocker Spaniels.  Usually a dog is sold at a price between 30,000-50,000 Korean Won (£15-20/US$30-40). Dog meat is sold at around 1700 Korean Won (£0.88/US$1.75) per 600 grams. A whole dog can be sold at 150,000 to 200,000 Korean Won (£77-100/US$154-200) in the dog meat market.

Ms Park also pointed out that Seoul created regulations in 1984 to ban dog meat on grounds of hygiene. However, the municipality did not enforce this regulation effectively, so dog meat continued to be sold – 2 million dogs are killed every year to satisfy the demand for dog meat. She believes that the municipality is trying to shift dogs into the category of livestock in order to sidestep their failure to enforce their initial regulation.

Lee Myung-bak, the new Korean president, is emphasising the need for Korea to meet international standards. If this legislation goes through, Mr Lee would be the first president in the world to legalise dog eating, and would be seen to be returning to primitive times on the dog eating issue.

There are about 10 million pet owners in Korea - they see dogs as companion animals. Once dogs are listed as livestock, the abuse of these animals will become institutionalised and will increase dramatically.

Mr. Won-Bok Lee, KAAP, Korea, stated that human beings are already faced with a huge challenge of animal-borne diseases such as BSE, food and mouth disease and bird flu. Korea itself is now battling against the outbreak of bird flu. In a situation when existing meat products are problematic, the notion that dog meat can be safely consumed as long as properly handled is highly questionable.

Wu Hung, the founder of EAST, Taiwan said that in the past, human beings may have needed to eat dog meat in order to survive. But today, with the diversity of different meat products in the market, human beings have already passed the time of scarcity for meat products and are heading for an era of over-consumption. To satisfy human consumption of meat more animals are bred and reared in intensive farming systems, and the rainforests are being levelled to grow commercial crops that serve as feed for pigs, cattle and chickens. These activities bring catastrophic ecological consequences and are a major contributor to the global climate crisis, which scientists have repeatedly warned about. The outbreak of SARS a few years ago is also a result of the ever expanding list of meat products that human beings eat. From whatever perspective, “cultural reasons” should no longer be an excuse to legalise of dog eating.