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,
Subject: S. Korea July 2016
Dear United Nations Organization,
Please watch this video: http://youtu.be/3uR8R8Mu70Q
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. Read more: http://koreandogs.org/
In addition to the unspeakable cruelty perpetrated by the dog meat trade,
is also a serious threat to human health and the environment. The dog farms are
a hotbed for infectious diseases. Since there is no disease control, these dogs
suffer from highly infectious and transmittable bacteria, virus, ectoparasites,
endoparasites, and fungi. Out of 165 dogs bred at a dog farm in the Seoul area,
83 dogs(50.3%) were found to be infected with endoparasites and 23 dogs(20.2%)
were found to be infected with heartworms.
Puppies suffer from malnutrition because they are fed rotting food waste
(infested with pests such as rats, cockroaches, flies) after being weaned. In
order to hide from the law and avoid civil complaints, most dog farms are
located in remote areas where the sun is scarce, causing a vitamin D deficiency,
which is necessary for bone growth.
Locked in cages for months, dogs are bored and stressed from being packed
with other dogs and having to breathe in the constant stench. Stress hormones
weaken their immune system and they become susceptible to hormonal diseases such
as hyperadrenocorticism.
Antibiotics, antidiarrheal treatments and steroids are used to control
measles, parvovirus, various respiratory and digestive diseases, but the abuse
of drugs led to an increasing tolerance against antibiotics and to the relevant
health problems. In some cases, ten times the normal doses were being
administered by the farmers without the supervision of a veterinarian.
Large doses of heavy metals that accumulated in the organs causing internal
body malfunctions are detected in dog meat. Heavy metals are assumed to have
been accumulated from eating leftover food waste and low-end feed (remains from
slaughterhouses). Many serious and often life threatening diseases can be
attributable to this unsanitary and inhumane dog meat industry. They include
animal bites and scratches, Bubonic Plague, Camphylobacter, Cutaneous larval
migrans, Giardiasis, Lyme Disease, Psittacosis, Rabies, Salmonellosis,
Shigellosis, Visceral Larva Migrans, Anthrax, Bebesiosis, Brucellosis,
Colibacilosis,… Read the extensive research report by KARA (Korea Animal Rights
Advocates) http://koreandogs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/KARA-Dog-Meat-Report_English-1.pdf
Please watch these videos and see what is going on inside South Korea at
this moment:
South Korea’s Dangerous Health Food – Inconvenient Truth About Dog Meat 1
of 2 with English Captions: http://youtu.be/vHB3uwB9kyA
South Korea’s Dangerous Health Food – Inconvenient Truth About Dog Meat 2
of 2 with English Captions: http://youtu.be/foHCBNllT8w
There is no appropriate animal protection legislation to prevent the animal
cruelty currently taking place in South Korea. As someone who believes strongly
that animals should not be treated in this way, I request that your organization
investigate and address this issue immediately. Please impose a sanction on the
South Korean government until they strengthen the Animal Protection Law to
prevent animal cruelty and to introduce basic animal protection regulations. It
must also provide penalties for violations and ensure that mistreated animals
can be legally seized from abusers and given immediate refuge. I request that
the United Nations ECOSOC strongly urge the South Korean Government to create an
enforceable law to ban the torture, killing, sale, and consumption of dogs and
cats. Please don’t let the South Korean government get away with this outrageous
cruelty to the companion animals.
Thank you for your attention and kind consideration.
Sincerely:
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