"I'll have a slice without so much Rat in it."
Posted on 11/17/2023 9:34:41 AM PST by Red Badger
SEOUL, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- South Korea announced plans to end the country's dog meat industry on Friday, aiming to phase out the age-old practice entirely by 2027.
Lawmakers and government officials are pushing for the passage of a special act to end the dog meat trade by the end of the year, which would then lead to a three-year phase-out period. The announcement came after a meeting among members of the ruling People Power Party, the agricultural ministry and animal rights groups at the National Assembly in Seoul on Friday.
"It is time to put an end to the social conflict and controversies caused by dog eating by enacting a special law," assembly member Yu Eui-dong said at a press conference after the meeting.
"We live in an era where there are millions of pets," Yu said. "In particular, dogs are not just possessions, but family members and friends that interact with people. The majority of the public is against eating dogs."
If the legislation is passed, the breeding, slaughtering, distribution and sale of dogs for food will be prohibited. Over the phase-out period, compensation will be offered to registered dog farm owners and others in the industry to help them shut down operations and transition to new fields.
JungAh Chae, executive director of Humane Society International/Korea, said the news was "like a dream come true for all of us who have campaigned so hard to end this cruelty."
"Korean society has reached a tipping point where most people now reject eating dogs and want to see this suffering consigned to the history books," Chae, who attended Friday's meeting, said in an emailed statement. "With so many dogs needlessly suffering for a meat that hardly anyone eats, the government's bill delivers a bold plan that must now urgently be passed."
Falling demand, negative public opinion and activist pressure have led to the closure of many of the country's largest slaughterhouses and markets in recent years. Still, HSI estimates that roughly 1 million dogs are being bred across South Korea to be killed for human consumption, with many farms operating illegally.
The charity has closed 18 farms in South Korea since 2015, finding homes for more than 2,700 dogs in the United States, Canada, Britain and the Netherlands.
According to a survey conducted by Nielsen Korea last year, 87.5% of South Koreans said they would never eat dog meat, a seasonal tradition that lingers primarily among older generations.
Public support for a ban has also continued to climb, with 56% favoring making the practice illegal, according to the Nielsen survey -- a figure that spiked from less than 35% in 2017.
Bipartisan support exists to end the practice, with both major parties introducing bills earlier this year that would outlaw the butchery and sale of dog meat and make its consumption illegal.
Once the legislation is passed, farms, slaughterhouses, distributors and restaurants will be required to submit an implementation plan for shutting down their operations to local governments.
LOL- Great thread!
Not only Korea. In Shenyang, China, just over the border, a small appetizer dish of dog, among other meats and vegetables, was served to us in a restaurant on a Lazy Susan. I had to ask because the wait staff didn’t say what it was (or was hiding it). They just answered matter-of-factly to my question that it was dog.
I lived down the street from a dog butcher shop in Korea. The way they beat the dogs to death to get the meat the way they wanted it was something out of a horror movie. The dog’s howling from the beatings was terrible.
When my husband was growing up, his parents were raising 4 and later 5 kids on a school teacher’s salary. Husband went hunting with his dad, they raised rabbits, kept a big garden, etc. It all went a long way to help with the food budget..
He swears that rabbit is wonderful and squirrel is even better. I haven’t been able to bring myself to try either one...
Horrible.
I’ve had squirrel and rabbit both- not crazy about it- it taste good at first, but is really chewy, stringy, and leaves a bad aftertaste- In a stew though it should be good- with enough veggies to cover the taste a bit- I do like rabbit though-
I havent tried racoon or possum though and probably won’t- “They say” that Nutria are supposed to be pretty good- I’d try it if available
"I'll have a slice without so much Rat in it."
😧
The weirdest thing I’ve eaten was frog legs. I didn’t even know they were frog legs until the meal was done. Could have been chicken, to me...
(Queen Elizabeth II once ate rat stew on a trip to Belize. She said it tasted like chicken...)
“More proof of Western culture’s superiority to all others.”
What happens if cows start identifying as dogs?
It never occurred to me at the time, but looking back now, it strikes me as a bit odd that my parents trusted me to go into the woods hunting by myself with a shotgun long before they every let me prepare a meal in the kitchen without intense supervision.
I liked hunting and always considered it wasteful to not eat anything I killed...so mom, who was not a fan of rabbit, would always fix them in canned tomatoes in her effort to kill what she thought was their objectionable taste...so for a while, I thought rabbit tasted like tomatoes.
When I got to cook by myself I tried a hasenpfeffer recipe I found in an old church cookbook...and I've fixed it that way ever since...utterly delicious!
Cows are killed humanely, while in Asia the dogs used for food are beaten to death. But in general, it’s more about a reflection on us than the animals themselves. Cows are raised for food and are seldom known as pets. While dogs are man’s best friend and for centuries, they have served people in hundreds of ways.
COOK! WHERE'S MY hasenpfeffer?!?!?!?!?!..........
NO!!! Gaegogi is what I tell my daughters I will do to their dogs when the dogs urinate on my carpet!
There are going to be some ruff conversations.
And dogged determinations...........................
LOL. When I was in SK a few years ago most of the local restaurants had chicken, pork or MEAT.
They forced it out of the main windows in 1986 before the olympics.
I was primarily questioning the claim of superiority of western culture given its emphasis on abortion, transexual, gay, promiscuity, and drug rights.
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