S. Korea dog meat campaigners may be barking up wrong tree
namyangju (South Korea) — Barking at their rescuers, labradors, beagles and mongrels desperately scrambled out of rusty cages in South Korea: saved from the dinner plate by a deal with dog-meat farmer Kim Young-Hwan.
In the face of falling demand, Kim agreed to close his establishment in exchange for compensation from US-based Humane Society International (HSI). The dogs are bound for a new life in adoptive homes in the West.
He is the 10th canine-meat farmer to accept such an offer in three years. The exact sums are confidential, but each deal requires hundreds of thousands of dollars once adoption costs are included.
“This business is doomed... I wanted to quit before it’s too late,” Kim said.
The 56-year-old had 170 dogs at his farm in Namyangju, north of Seoul.
“The price has plummeted in > The push by animal rights activists to outlaw dog meat consumption in the South has sparked mixed reactions and accusations of Western hypocrisy. > South Koreans are believed to consume about one million dogs a year as a summertime delicacy. recent years,” he told AFP. “I’m barely making ends meet these days. Plus I’ve been harassed by animal rights groups all the time. It’s such a hassle.”
The push by animal rights activists, including many overseas groups, to outlaw dog meat consumption in the South has sparked mixed reactions and accusations of Western hypocrisy.
South Koreans are believed to consume about one million dogs a year as a summertime delicacy, > The tradition has declined as the nation increasingly embraces the idea of dogs as pets. > Activists have stepped up campaigns to ban dog consumption, with online petitions urging boycotts of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics over the issue. with the greasy red meat — which is invariably boiled for tenderness — believed to increase energy.
The tradition has declined as the nation increasingly embraces the idea of dogs as pets instead of livestock, with eating them now something of a taboo among young South Koreans.
Nevertheless, activists have stepped up campaigns to ban dog consumption, with online petitions urging boycotts of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics over the issue and protests in Seoul. Polls show South Korean public opinion is divided.
According to a survey this year 70 per cent of South Koreans do not eat dogs, but far fewer — about 40 per cent — believe the practice should be banned.
It also found 65 per cent support raising and slaughtering dogs in more humane conditions.
At Kim’s rundown farm, dogs sat behind tarnished brown rusty bars, their bowls filled with soupy scraps.
Housed in pairs, they spent up to a year in cages about two square metres and reeking of excrement before being sent to slaughterhouses.
For his part farmer Kim will not be raising any other animals for meat — he is banned from doing so under the deal with HSI.
“The social atmosphere has changed,” he said, adding: “Eating dog is seen as if it’s a crime these days.” —
South Koreans eat one million dogs a year