Scandal in South Korea

You may find this article extremely harrowing 

It sounds mediaeval doesn't it, a country where dogs and cats, loved as companion animals around the globe, are served up as a 'gourmet' food. Yet this is the reality today in South Korea. 

Many Koreans claim that eating dogs is a long tradition although others believe that eating dogs only began as a result of the Korean war, when starvation was rife.  The popularity today has come about because dog dealers and restaurants began to invent stories about the health benefits to be gained from eating dog meat. 

In order to meet the demand for dog meat (estimated at 2-2.8 million dogs and cats per year), farms exist throughout the country to breed these animals for slaughter. Dog meat, at £15 Sterling per kilo, costs more than beef and is eaten more than lamb.

dogs in cages Dogs for sale

Dogs can commonly be seen in Korean markets being killed (hopefully) by hammer blows to the head before being skinned. Sometimes the dog is electrified instead, with electrodes fixed to the tongue. Yet another favoured method is slow strangulation by hanging. The flesh is then singed by a blowtorch to improve its appearance. On some occasions, the animal remains alive throughout, eventually dying from shock. This is all performed in full view of other dogs crammed in cages awaiting the same fate. 

The Koreans actually believe that the adrenaline released into the dogs' bloodstreams by their sheer terror and agony will increase the sexual potency of the consumer. 

Shocking eye-witness testimony

Not surprisingly, photographs of this form of "slaughter" are difficult to obtain. The following is an account from an eye-witness,

"The reason why dogs are beaten for so long is that there is a belief that the slower & more painful the death is, the more potent the dog's meat will be. Killing the dog slowly causes the dog's adrenaline to flow, and this flow of adrenaline throughout the dog is believed to increase the aphrodisiac power of the meat. While the dog is slowly being killed, it is of course screaming in pain, and trying to resist the grip of the man doing the killing. One method is to tie the dog from his hind legs upside down. (All other accounts say that the dog is hung from the neck). The man or men than beat the dog's body all over with clubs or bats. Beating it this way is said to do two things. One is to increase the flow of adrenalin and the other is to tenderize the meat.

"While the dog is being beaten, it gets to the point where it urinates and defecates on itself, and the urine & faeces typically flow down the dog's body, getting in its eyes and causing more pain. Eventually, during this intensive beating, blood flows out of the dog's mouth and nose due to internal bleeding, and it finally dies. This beating process has no set time....It can be a few minutes or it can take an hour, depending on the man doing the killing and how much he is into the belief that beating it slowly is best for a quality aphrodisiac. I hope this clarifies why the dogs are beaten first. In a large facility, the dogs may not be hung by their hind legs. Instead the man enters the large dog cage, selects the dog, grabs it, and while holding it by the neck, begins to beat it in the head in order to crush the skull. Of course, there are so many methods of beating the dogs because there is no regulation on this."

CATS

Waiting for death  cat and kittens in cage

Although cats are eaten in South Korea, it is more usual for them to be rendered into a "medicine" to treat rheumatism and arthritis. Unlike dogs, cats are not bred on specialist farms. This would not be cost effective when there are always starving strays. These are collected in sacks and, if lucky, are beaten to death with either a stick or hammer blows to the head. More commonly, they are boiled alive with herbs (sometimes after having their limbs broken to reduce their ability to struggle) until their flesh liquifies. The resulting "liquid cat" (known as "Goyangi soju") is then sold in small sachets. An average size cat, when cooked with dates, herbs and chestnuts, will produce 20-25 of these sachets. 

Shocking Eye-witness Testimony

The following is an eye-witness account, reported to the Korean Animal Protection Society (KAPS) by one of its members, Miss Mun Juyoung.

"While passing by the Kyoung-il Health Food Restaurant, Miss Mun looked in through the window and saw a middle aged women walking slowly among the rows of hissing and boiling cauldrons. In her arms she held a cat, who seemed undisturbed by the water on the floor or the stream so thick in the air. Stopping at one of the hot kettles, the women sniffed once and dropped the cat in to the boiling water. Hideously scalded by the boiling water the cat screamed and clawed its way out but, the blank-faced woman, pushed it back in the water with a stick over and over again until the cat finally lost consciousness. The woman fished it out once more, the cat mewing and whimpering in pain, whereupon the woman pushed it back in for the final time."

What you can do

There are a number of websites with petitions to sign or giving names and addresses of people that you can write to in order to express your opinion of this grisly trade.

Click on the links below:

It's Their Destiny     This site kindly gave permission for us to use their pictures and text.

Sirius Global Animal Organisation   

Korea Animal Protection Society (KAPS)

 

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