Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin: Please tell your Sister City, Gongju, South Korea, you oppose the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.
Gongju became a sister city to Berkeley in 2019. This relationship was undoubtedly formed in the spirit of friendship and for your mutual benefit, business links, trade, etc. And, while Berkeley would have expected to learn about the differences in cultural practices of the Gongju citizens, we feel confident that Berkeley would have hesitated to form such a Sister City relationship had your city known about the aberrant and cruel practices routinely carried out in the dog and cat meat industry in Gongju and all over South Korea. Lucrative but illegal trades carry on unchallenged: with no enforcement of the laws and no punishment for those violating them.
South Korea is the home to global companies, such as Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, LG, Daewoo, SK, and POSCO, which is why it is so shocking that an estimated 2.5 million dogs are tortured and slaughtered every year within South Korea because of the greed of dog eaters and the dog meat industry; while the majority of those Koreans, who don’t participate in this offensive trade, show a profound indifference by doing nothing at all to stop it.
We know how loyal and faithful our dogs across the world are. We all ask a lot of them – they serve us in innumerable ways: farm work, war work, police and guard duties, search and rescue, help for the disabled, guiding and guardianship, and, of course, as our loving and trusting companions.
Dogs were first domesticated thousands of years ago, and so much do they want to be part of our ‘human’ family that they have learned to understand our gestures and language – the language of another species – showing remarkable willingness and intelligence.
In Gongju, there are numerous dog farms, slaughterhouses, markets, and restaurants where the dogs, who have been tortured their entire lives, end up being slaughtered in the most inhumane ways, such as by electrocution, hanging, or beating, and then thrown into boiling water – sometimes while they are still alive. In many places, dogs are being killed in full view of other terrified, caged dogs; and this takes place in public and broad daylight. In addition, many abandoned and stolen former pets end up in this industry and are subject to the same cruelty.
Please watch these undercover videos by animal rights activists in South Korea:
The slaughter of dogs from an unauthorized slaughterhouse violates the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, Article 7 Section 1. The Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act states that dogs are officially recognized and classified as “animals” that are “prohibited from being slaughtered and distributed as food for human consumption.” Therefore, those vendors operating dog slaughterhouses are operating outside of the parameters of the law. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than 10 years or a fine not exceeding 100 million won per Article 45 of the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act.)
There are laws in South Korea against selling dogs and cats for human consumption, yet these laws are routinely and blatantly ignored.
Please urge Gongju Mayor Choi Won-cheol that Berkeley and its citizens demand Gongju that they issue an official document mandating that the following existing Korean laws be enforced by its government officials, police, and judges:
Breeding:
Unauthorized processing of food waste fed to dogs in the meat trade violates the Wastes Control Act, Article 15-2, Article 25, Section 3. Suppliers of food waste and transporters of food waste to dog meat farms are violating this regulation. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than five years or by a fine not exceeding 50 million won per Article 64 of the Waste Control Act. Imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or by a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 65 of the Waste Management Act.)
The unauthorized collection of food waste and feeding it to dogs violates the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act, Article 14, Sections 1 & 2. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 33 of the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act.)
Excrement and resulting environmental damage produced as a by-product of the illegal dog meat farm violate the Act on the Management and Use of Livestock Excreta. The excrement produced at dog meat farms causes environmental damage to the immediate and surrounding area. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than two years or a fine not exceeding 20 million won per Article 49 of the Act on the Management and Use of Livestock Excreta.)
Slaughter:
Slaughtering dogs for human consumption violates the Animal Protection Act Article 8, Section 1. Killing an animal by hanging it by the neck or by using any other cruel methods; killing an animal on the street or any other places open to the public or killing an animal with animals of the same kind present at the scene; killing an animal by failing to feed or water it on purpose; killing an animal without any justifiable grounds is a clear violation of the Animal Protection Act.
The slaughter of dogs by electrocution violates the Animal Protection Act, Article 8, Section 1, Clause 1. Inflicting an injury to animals by physical or chemical means, such as tools or drugs, is subject to legal punishment. Therefore, the routine slaughter of dogs by butchers and farmers by these methods violates the Act. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 46 of the Animal Protection Act.) Further, electrocution as a method of slaughter is internationally recognized as an inherently cruel method of slaughter and banned globally. In Korea, the Supreme Court in 2020 convicted a case of slaughtering a dog using an electric iron skewer.
The slaughter of dogs for consumption violates the Animal Protection Act, Article 10. The Act intends to ensure that no animal is slaughtered in a cruel or revolting manner and shall be free from unnecessary pain, fear, or stress during slaughter. Therefore, the only humane way of killing dogs would be by euthanasia (lethal injection). All currently practiced methods of slaughter by butchers, farmers, and traders exclude euthanasia as a method of slaughter. Therefore, they are all in breach of this Act. This also violates the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act Article 7 Section 1 Clause 2. According to the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, the slaughter of animals for their consumption is allowed only for the livestock animals publicly announced as livestock classification in the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, and dogs are not classified here.
Distribution & Sale:
The display and sale of dog carcasses in traditional outdoor markets violate the Food Sanitation Act, Article 4, 5. It violates laws banning the sale of harmful food due to the contamination from the unsanitary and illegal animal slaughter and display of the dog carcass. For example, dog carcasses are routinely contaminated by microorganisms that cause human diseases and food poisoning, leading to severe and life-threatening health complications. There are also strict laws that ban the sale of meat from sick animals. Because there is no quality control or proper monitoring of slaughter practices in the dog meat trade, likely, these laws are routinely violated.
Dog meat restaurants’ sale of dog meat soup made with dog carcasses from an unknown source violates the Food Sanitation Act Article 44 Section 1 Clause 1. Uninspected livestock products must not be transported, stored, displayed, sold, or used to manufacture or process food for human consumption.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety must crack down on and punish businesses that sell dog carcasses and that process, cook, and sell products that use dog carcasses as raw materials.
We believe these demands are in line with the goal of sister cities to establish friendly communications in tourism, commerce, cultural exchange, and public health.
International and Korean media coverage of the brutal dog and cat meat trade in South Korea has stained Gongju, South Korea’s image, and severely tarnished your city’s sister city relationship. The time to end this tragedy is now. The favor of your reply is requested.
On behalf of all the animals suffering unimaginable cruelty in the dog and cat meat industry, we thank you in advance and await your reply.
PETITION TARGETS: Canton City Council, Canton Police Department and Animal Control, Van Zandt County Sheriff’s Office, SPCA of East Texas, Texas State Legislators, National Flea Market Association
Defenseless puppies were crammed into filthy, rusted cages without food or water at a flea market in Texas called “Dog Alley” when an undercover investigator working for Lady Freethinker stopped by.
The investigator documented puppies with seemingly overgrown nails, weeping eyes, bloated stomachs, and eye conditions, as well as wet and muddy dogs left outside who had been drenched in an overnight storm. The investigator also documented dogs and puppies housed alongside live birds and other animals in a flooded building that smelled overwhelmingly of feces.
Puppies also were kept in tiny cages with wire-strand flooring that offered no protection for their sensitive paws and pens that afforded minimal room to move around — with the investigator documenting at least 16 puppies in a single small pen.
Inside Dog Alley (Lady Freethinker Investigation)
Many of the puppies for sale were less than eight weeks old, according to vendor comments as well as signs blatantly advertising their ages — in seeming violation of both state and federal law.
The scope of suffering was massive, with the investigator estimating that more than 1,500 puppies were being sold by more than 100 vendors and that about 98 percent of stalls visited did not have any water immediately available to the dogs.
Inside Dog Alley (Lady Freethinker Investigation)
But dogs weren’t the only animals suffering. The investigator also documented birds, rabbits, hedgehogs, and other animals crammed into filthy wire cages and other animals, including horses, languishing in muddy and flooded enclosures — conditions known to contribute to the spread of zoonotic diseases.
Dog Alley has been the subject of numerous news reports and investigations conducted by reputable animal welfare organizations for alleged animal cruelty and public health and safety risks over the years — and conditions clearly haven’t improved.
Inside Dog Alley (Lady Freethinker Investigation)
It’s time for authorities to immediately end this suffering by banning the sales of live dogs and other animals in open-air settings, including at flea markets and along roadsides.
Numerous other states — including Louisiana, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Virginia — and compassionate municipalities, including Anderson County, SC, and Memphis, TN, have laws prohibiting the sale of dogs and other animals at flea markets.
The cruelty must stop now.
Sign our petition urging authorities to immediately and consistently investigate conditions at Dog Alley and crack down on any violative vendors. To save countless lives, we’re also asking city, county, and state officials to ban the sale of live animals in flea markets in Texas and for the National Flea Market Association to ban the sale of live animals at flea markets.
Lifted off their paws and into the air by a rope around their neck, helpless dogs are then slammed into cramped, metal cages on transport trucks at a dog meat auction house in Icheon, S. Korea, reveals footage in an undercover Lady Freethinker (LFT) investigation.
An LFT investigator documented activity at the Icheon dog meat auction house during May and June of this year, arriving on select days at 9:00 a.m. local time. By noon, trucks filled with dogs pulled into the auction house and unloaded the helpless animals into numbered, metal cages.
Around 2:30 p.m., trucks with empty cages pulled into the auction house, the dogs from earlier that day were bought, and workers stuffed the purchased canines into the empty cages for transport, likely headed to slaughter.
In one disturbing incident, a worker swung a shovel toward a caged dog’s head as the pup desperately tried to escape imprisonment.
Confusing laws allow dog farms to continue to exist in S. Korea, but this particular Icheon dog meat auction house is operating illegally, as there are no required waste treatment facilities on-site and the area in which it’s located is zoned for agriculture.
LFT partner Save Korean Dogs will be urging Icheon city officials to close down the auction house for these violations.
Unless it is shut down soon, the Icheon dog meat auction house could stand to profit from cruel and criminal exploitation, especially during the Bok Nal Dog Eating Days — where defenseless dogs are slaughtered and cooked as boshintang, or dog meat soup — which takes place on what are supposed to be the hottest days of the year.
Sign this petition urging Eam Tai-joon, Mayor of Icheon, to shut down this horrifying and illegal dog meat auction house, saving innocent animals from needless suffering.
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