작년겨울부터 썩어가는 개 사체와 함께 개장 안에 방치되어있던 전라남도 담양의 개농장 개들을 구조해주세요!

Click to read and see the photos: http://koreandogs.org/damyang-dog-farm/

This petition supports the efforts of Korea Animal Rights Advocates(KARA) to get the Damyang District Office to rescue the surviving dogs left in wire cages with the carcasses of dead dogs at the illegal dog farm in Damyang, Jeollanam-do, South Korea.

This is a translation of campaign news by Korea Animal Rights Advocates, posted on August 18, 2015: Dogs live in fears of death every day in an abandoned meat dog-breeding farm. 방치 된 개농장에서 하루하루 죽음의 공포와 싸우는 개들. 

For more than half a year, bodies of dozens of dead dogs were left to rot in cages at an illegal meat dog-breeding farm in Damyang, Jeollabuk-do Province. The owner apparently abandoned the dogs to starve to death when he was unable to get a permit from the local government to operate his illegal dog farm.

This dog farm reveals the hidden side of the practice of dog meat consumption and exposes the reality of an indifferent government and a citizenry whose awareness of the dog meat consumption problem is, at best, superficial.

This industry has been allowed to continue its operations due to the extreme moral laxness and negligence of our administrative government agencies. The dog meat industry has been embellished, justified, and promoted through human ignorance.

And the result of this human ignorance has been the unnecessary suffering of living beings.

Living dogs and the carcasses of those who have died are sharing cages because the owner did not remove the dead bodies, thus exposing the living animals to illness and infection and forcing them to endure the constant fear of death from hunger and thirst.

Some dogs, managing to escape their raised cages, roam the streets looking for food. While they pose a possible threat to the residents of the neighborhood, these people don’t seem to understand or regret that their apathy and lack of concern is the cause of the plight of these starving dogs.

Causing the death of animals through neglect is one form of animal cruelty that happens often in our country. Especially extreme neglect is most prevalent in the morally lax meat dog-breeding farms commonly found around the foothills of mountains. Despondent and dejected dogs, tied up and suffering from inadequate food and protection, are found everywhere on these farms.

This is the result when dog farms are operated illegally and the owners, unable to make the farm work, commit acts of emotional and physical cruelty by abandoning both the farm and the animals. It is a reality that cannot be prevented as long as the dog meat consumption industry is allowed to continue. There are so many of these inadequate dog farms scattered around the country it is impossible to count them all.

What’s more frustrating is that the local government, responsible for blocking the construction of these dog farms, which would then prevent any resulting animal cruelty, is doing nothing. Dog farms like this one, and even worse, exist all over the country.

Live dogs, witnessing their friends dying and subjected for months to the stench of the decomposing bodies, must themselves have felt a terrible fear of death

We have been told that the owner is currently providing the surviving dogs with food. Even if that were true, they are still existing in horrific conditions and, judging from the owner’s past behavior, it is doubtful that he will in fact take care of the living animals properly and humanely.

Korea Animal Rights Advocates sent an official document to the Jeollanam-do Provincial Government and the Damyang District Office requesting the removal of the carcasses and the protection of the living dogs. We were able to communicate by phone with the Damyang District Office’s Animal Protection Volunteer Inspection Union staff, and were told that they had removed all the carcasses but had to leave the surviving dogs as there was no facility to transfer them to. For now they said that the Volunteer Inspection Union staff will visit the dog farm again to check on the condition of the remaining dogs.

When confronted with these cases of such horrific abuse and neglect, the local government’s response is always the same, it is not possible to do anything, it’s too difficult. What is difficult to understand is why there have been no countermeasures established to prevent the pervasiveness of these dog farms. As long as our government continues to neglect the problems of the dog meat industry, there will be no hope for the improvement of the animal cruelty issue.

We again ask that Jeollanam-do Damyang District Office immediately remove and protect the remaining dogs from the animal abuser. We strongly urge you to show your firm commitment that you will no longer allow the establishment of dog-breeding farms by rescuing and protecting the dogs at this particular farm. Your actions are the only way to prevent the reccurrence of this situation.

Animal cruelty occurs because animals are often weaker than, and dependent upon, humans. But animal cruelty should never happen. No one has the right to abuse another living being.

KARA will do our best to resolve this issue satisfactorily and prevent future occurrences of cases like this.

Click to read and see the photos: http://koreandogs.org/damyang-dog-farm/