URGE SOUTH KOREAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS - METHODIST, CATHOLIC, PRESBYTERIAN, & BUDDHIST - TO PREACH AGAINST THE TORTURE AND CONSUMPTION OF DOGS

Thank you for taking time to sign this petition. I believe if South Korean Religious Leaders which have significant influence in South Korea, took a firm stand against the torture and consumption of dogs by actively opposing it, it would go a long way toward stopping South Korea’s horrific dog meat trade.

If everyone who signs can get 1 or 2 more signatures we will gather a sufficient number to spotlight this issue and bring about change!

Thank you,

Jane Rita

TARGET:

Bishop Shin, Kyoung Ha, President of Council of Bishops & other South Korean and World Religious Leaders.

OVERVIEW:

“South Korea has the world’s 14th largest economy and is home to global brands such as Samsung, Hyundai, Kia, LG, SK, and Daewoo. Yet this is also a country where an estimated 2.5 million dogs and thousands of cats are slaughtered and eaten each year.

Forced to endure deprivation and unimaginable torture from the moment they are born until the day they are slaughtered, dogs are imprisoned in cramped, filthy, raised cages all their lives with no protection from extreme weather. They get no water, exercise, companionship or medical care, and they never feel the ground beneath their feet. Their eardrums are often burst to prevent them from barking.

In broad daylight, often in front of other live dogs, they are electrocuted, hanged, beaten, have their throats slashed, or are boiled or burnt to death. This is a profit-driven, tax free, unregulated industry that aggressively promotes the myth that eating a dog enhances male virility and stamina. Consumption peaks during the hottest days of summer (Boknal).

Koreans claim that the more a dog suffers, the better its meat is. So many dogs are sadistically made to experience extreme fear and suffering prior to death. Cats are frequently boiled alive to make health tonics, too. – “600 Stray Cats Boiled Alive,” Yonhap News, 5/21/15.

The demand is so high in South Korea that 20% of the dogs eaten there are now imported from China. South Korea is the only country known to have large, intensive farming systems to supply the demand for dog meat. “ source http://www.Koreandogs.org

Eating dog meat is NOT a personal choice. Nothing that causes so much pain and suffering can ever be called a ‘personal choice’!

ARGUMENT / PETITION:

Religious leaders throughout the world play an important role in civilized societies, both by the example they set and through their active participation toward raising the moral conscience of their respective nations.  Any time there occurs within any nation an unmitigated evil, it is not merely the option of religious leaders to oppose it, but it is their obligation to do so.  Silence gives consent!

The torture of dogs for consumption in South Korea, is just such an unmitigated evil that must be opposed!

The evidence that such torture of dogs has occurred in the past and continues to occur to this day is incontrovertible.  It has been well documented by koreandogs.org, Humane Society International, In Defense of Animals, among other animal welfare organizations. 

As the concept that all creatures great and small are to be appropriately treated and that animal suffering matters is found included among the precepts of both Western and Eastern Religions, it is with respect that we, the undersigned hereby petition and urge all South Korean and other World Religious leaders to become a unified voice for the voiceless.