It is heartbreaking to watch dogs cruelly mistreated in Korea. Cruel treatment to dogs by Korean dog meat producers are notorious worldwide. In addition, dogs are also being abused in puppy mills and in municipal-run shelters for stray animals. Dogs are not treated as living creatures in Korea. Instead, they are seen as lucrative sources of income for dog farmers, breeders, and, and government assigned shelter directors. Hence it is not very shocking to find even Government officers actively participating in cruelty to animals. China slaughtered 50,000 dogs by clubbing them to death and threw them into dump trucks. A Government sanctioned slaughter.
Everyday, countless thousands of dogs (many former pets) are inhumanely caged, beaten, tortured, killed and butchered, often times publically, to feed the Chinese demand for dog meat. This activity occurs, while simultaneously three quarters of the Chinese population have indicated a desire for improved animal welfare protections and an end to the dog meat industry. Dogs are purposely slaughtered in front of other dogs, to increase their fear and stress level- as this is supposed to enhance the flavor and increase the adrenaline in their meat, which according to Chinese folklore, boosts virility. Actual physical torture and bleeding them out slowly, are other routine methods used for this purpose.
Every year, 2.6 million dogs are slaughtered and consumed in South Korea. Methods of slaughter include hanging by the neck, prolonged beatings with pipes and hammers, and electrocution. Often, they are boiled alive, and are routinely blowtorched to remove their fur and to brown their skin.
The myth is that the more pain suffered by these animals, the more tender and aphrodisiac the meat is. This idea is generated by Korean dog-meat dealers. Dog-meat stew is not a thousand-year-old Korean tradition, as dog-meat dealers claim.
Why are we as humans obsessed with carrying, wearing, feeling, stroking the dead fur of a slaughtered fellow creative? Are we jealous we don’t have it? If we like it lets stoke the fur of a tenderly loved companion animal instead.
