Animal protection groups from Taiwan and South Korea yesterday called on South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to intervene in a plan to legalize the consumption of dog meat in South Korea and urged people in both countries to join their protests.
The Seoul City Government last month adopted a set of hygiene regulations on dog meat and classified dogs as livestock.
The city government also plans to push for central-government level legislation on the processing of dog meat and classification of dogs as livestock after the parliamentary election later this month.
The move by Seoul has triggered a series of protests from animal protection groups both inside and outside of South Korea.
“It’s understandable that in certain regions people had to eat dog meat in order to survive in the past, but we already have plenty of meat sources,” said Wu Hung (朱增宏), chairman of the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST).
He said in a telephone interview with the Taipei Times that once dogs become farm-raised on a large scale, new diseases may break out.
“Eating exotic animals is the cause of several epidemics — such as SARS — in recent years,” Wu Hung said. “Dogs have been human companions for thousands of years. Once they become a meat source, who knows what diseases will threaten human health?”
Lee Won-bok, president of the Korean Association for Animal Protection, agreed with Wu Hung.
“Bird flu is getting out of control in [South] Korea. As people are worried about the safety of all meat products, it’s naive to believe that dog meat is safe as long as it’s processed under strict hygiene control,” Lee told a news conference in Taipei on Tuesday, urging the public to send protest letters to the South Korean president.
“Hence, for the purposes of disease prevention, health and respect to life, the [South] Korean government should prohibit eating and selling dog meat,” Lee said.
The letter campaign is part of a coordinated action by animal protection groups across Asia.
Park So-yeon, president of the group Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth, accused the Seoul City Government of disregarding a 1984 ban on selling dog meat.
“The failure [of the city government] to penalize illegal dog meat sellers has resulted in the slaughter of 2 million dogs in the city alone,” Park said.
“Instead of taking responsibility, they’re now running away from it by trying to legalize the sale of dog meat,” he said.
If the South Korean government doesn’t heed their demands, the groups vowed further action, including boycotting products made in South Korea.
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