|
Subject:
Please end plans to
legalize dog meat |
Dear
Ambassador and Minister,
I am shocked and appalled to learn
that The Ministry of the Office for Government Policy Coordination
is considering a plan to hygienically control and thus legalize dog
meat.
If the sanitary and environmental problems associated
with the consumption of dog meat are so dire as to require
governmental concern, efforts should be directed at banning dog
meat; not legalizing it.
If such a law passes, it would make
Korea the first and only country in the entire world to explicitly
legitimize dog meat, legally sanctioning dog slaughter for human
consumption. Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines have all banned
dog-meat. In fact, Taiwan recently strengthened its law banning the
killing and selling of dogs as food.
I respectfully request
that you put aside any plans to legalize the sale of dog meat and
create an enforceable law to ban the practice. Please inform me of
your decision.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your
address]
South Korea’s laws prohibiting the
consumption of dogs and cats have been routinely ignored and
disregarded by law enforcement. Korea’s Ministry for the Office of
Government Policy Coordination announced in March that it was to
begin inspecting dog meat for sanitation, thus giving dog meat its
seal of approval despite global opposition.
For years
activists have been calling on the Korean Government to curb animal
abuse. Animal advocates in Korea and around the world have been
protesting the Korean Government’s refusal to enforce its own laws.
In 1984, the Ministry of Health introduced a law which stated that,
“The cooking and sale of dog meat is forbidden as it is designated
as a ‘Disgusting food under the law of Food Sanitation Enforcement
Regulations.’” In 1991, the Animal Protection Law was introduced and
stated, “no one shall kill animals in a way which is cruel or which
provokes disgust without proper, rational
reason.”
Before dogs are killed for meat, they are
often strung up by their legs and beaten. Dog butchers extol the
virtues of their product, linking the adrenaline rush dogs
experience as they are bludgeoned to death to enhanced male
virility. Cats fare no better—viewed as pest animals, they are
boiled alive so their “juices” can be extracted for supposed health
tonics which butchers claim can be used to treat
rheumatism.
“It’s inconceivable that as the rest of the
modern world is strengthening animal protection laws, the Korean
Government is allowing ‘man’s best friends’ to be boiled alive,
beaten, butchered, and eaten under its knowing watch,” says IDA
president and founder Elliot M. Katz, DVM. “If the Government
genuinely wants to eradicate the potentially harmful effects of dog
meat to public health, it should enforce its laws banning dog meat;
not legalize it.”
For more information on IDA and its Korean
Animals Campaign, please visit www.IDAUSA.org.
For more information on Animal Freedom Korea,
please visit www.animalkorea.org.