Coquitlam: Tell Friendship City, Paju, S Korea, you oppose the torture/consumption of dogs

Coquitlam: Tell Friendship City, Paju, S Korea, you oppose the torture/consumption of dogs

Started
July 29, 2017
Petition to
Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada Mayor Richard Stewart and 16 others
Signatures: 22,655Next Goal: 25,000
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Why this petition matters

Started by KOREANDOGS.ORG

Petition: https://chng.it/yt7QkHMS

For more actions, you can take, please visit https://koreandogs.org/friendship-city-paju-coquitlam/.

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart: Tell Friendship City, Paju, South Korea, you oppose the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.

The city of Coquitlam has become Friendship City with Paju, South Korea. This relationship was undoubtedly formed in the spirit of friendship and for your mutual benefit, business links, trade, etc. And while the City of Coquitlam would have expected to learn about the differences in cultural practices of the Paju citizens, we feel confident that your city would have hesitated to form such a Friendship City relationship had your city known about the aberrant and cruel practices routinely carried out in the dog and cat meat trades in Paju 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 disabled people, guidance 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 Paju, 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 in broad daylight. In addition, many abandoned and stolen former pets end up in this industry and are subject to the same cruelty.

Please watch this undercover video by animal rights activists in South Korea: Shocking Cruelty of South Korea’s Dog Meat Industry, Part 1 of 2: https://youtu.be/_ZVQjgGb4RQ
Part 2 of 2: https://vimeo.com/754160791
Paju dog auction house operates on “Blind Spot”, Even on military-owned land. KBS News, 9/15/2019: https://youtu.be/C6svoHlN2WM
https://koreandogs.org/kara-paju-dog-auction-house/

There are laws in South Korea against selling dogs and cats for human consumption, yet these laws are routinely and blatantly ignored.

We believe that there must surely be some social responsibility for the representatives of one city to take a stand against any wrongdoing being sanctioned or ignored by their Friendship City. As such, we ask you to please urge Paju Mayor Kim Gyeong-il to take action and to state that Coquitlam and its citizens demand that Paju 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 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.)

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.

Please refer to the legal information regarding dog meat consumption in South Korea published by KARA (Korea Animal Rights Advocates):  http://koreandogs.org/kara-publishes-legal-information-booklet-ending-dog-meat-consumption/

We believe these demands align with the spirit and goals of Friendship Cities to establish friendly communications in tourism, commerce, cultural exchange, and public health.

International coverage of the brutal dog and cat meat trade in South Korea has stained Paju, South Korea’s image. Don’t let it also tarnish your City’s Friendship City relationship. The time to end this tragedy is now. The favor of your reply is requested.

Forest fire in Uljin burns dogs imprisoned in dog meat farms.

Photo: Dogs sold to butchers at auction for dog meat in Paju and rescued right before electric slaughter.

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Signatures: 22,655Next Goal: 25,000
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Decision Makers

  • Mayor Richard StewartCoquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
  • Mayor Kim Gyeong-ilPaju, South Korea
  • 이성철 의원Paju City Council
  • 윤희정 의원Paju City Council
  • 오창식 의원Paju City Council