[KARA Press Release] The Ministry of Environment’s Neglect of Responsibility for Waste Management Results in Dog Meat Farms Becoming Furnaces for Food Wastes Below is translation of July 11, 2017 Press Release from Korea Animal Rights Advocates(KARA): We are exposing the dirty secret of how dog meat farms were able to be formed and operated in South Korea, the only nation in the world where dogs are bred in factory farms in which hundreds or even thousands of dogs are raised by only one or two people. According to Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA), it was discovered that the Ministry of Environment was neglecting to properly manage food waste by allowing illegal disposals. By exploiting the laxity of the Ministry of Environment’s management of food waste, dog meat farms were able to grow to such immensity with free illegal food and livestock waste. According to the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act, for food waste to be processed and distributed as animal feed, it must first be transferred to an authorized recycling facility where it is sterilized and tested for contaminants such as salmonella and residual selenium content. In 2016, 83 of such recycling facilities processed 1.1 million tons of food waste, and distributed to pig farmers 400,000 tons (approximately 37%) of the recycled food waste collected. However, the Ministry of Environment issued food waste processing licenses to dog farm owners who wanted to collect food waste, without ever inspecting or checking these dog farms to ensure compliance of standards. By granting non-discriminatory waste management authority to dog meat farm owners without supervising their abidance of the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act, the government contributed to rampant animal abuse, threats to public health, complaints of odor and pests, as well as the environmental pollution caused by the secondary dumping grounds. Please click here to learn more: http://koreandogs.org/kara-ministry-environment/ For the latest news and calls for action, please LIKE our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Koreandogs Click here for more actions you can take: http://koreandogs.org/what-you-can-do/call-for-action/ Thank you. Compassion Through Action! Homepage: http://koreandogs.org/ Petitions: http://koreandogs.org/petitions/ What you can do: http://koreandogs.org/what-you-can-do/contacts-for-protest/sample-protest-letter/ Call the South Korean Embassy and Consulate General Offices in your country: http://koreandogs.org/call-south-korean-embassy