A man lures and kills neighbor’s 8 year old pet dog to eat in Cheongsong, Gyeongsangbukdo-province. Korean Animal Welfare Association(KAWA) became involved with this case when the victim’s family called us last Thursday and the below is a summary written by the family about the case.  Source:  http://koreandogs.org/gilyongee-call-to-action-by-kawa/

“Our dog, Gilyongee, was 8 years old. My father raised him freely in the country. Our Gilyongee only approaches family and close acquaintances and never approaches strangers. Even when he goes out, he takes a walk around the neighborhood once and comes right back home. When Gilyongee did not return home for several days, my father went on searching for him and heard from a man at a neighborhood gas station that “he was tied up next door”. So my father went next door and asked the owner of that house about Gilyongee but the man said he “tied him up but he escaped”. My father believed his story but while talking to his friends, he heard his friend saying, “That man is crazy about dog meat and he is very well known for catching and eating whatever dog he sees.” My father became suspicious and went to that man’s house at night with a flashlight and he found traces of blood and dog excrement assumed to be Gilyongee’s at his outdoor water faucet area. My father was scared and horrified and called the police. The police came out and questioned the man, “where is the dog?” and the man lied and said “the dog got away”. When the police keep interrogating him and asked him about the blood and the excrement at the water faucet area, the man became flustered and did not respond. There is a refrigerator big enough to fit a person next to his water faucet area and when the police opened it, there was the body of Gilyongee with his white fur inside a red basin. That’s when the man finally confessed and said, “I was going to eat him”. Can you believe this? How terrified Gilyongee must have been even shitting himself… How much would he have struggled to set free… Gilyongee was like my little brother and my love. We cannot forgive this man for what he did to our dog. Please help us. In order to do our best for our dog, we cannot forgive this man. We will fight to the end so that this doesn’t happen to other dogs.”

Gilyongee’s family wants to punish the neighbor who killed their dog but they are afraid that the police might try to convince them into “settling the case out of court in order to avoid confrontation among neighbors in a small village” or it gets handled as a minor ‘property’ damage case. That’s how they came to request our help.

With our guidance, Gilyongee’s family reported the perpetrator to the authority for animal cruelty, and requested the seizure of Gilyongee’s body that is still being kept in the perpetrator’s refrigerator. KAWA will continue to follow up with the police’s investigation of this case and will make sure the perpetrator is prosecuted for the violation of animal protection law. Companion animals are not merely property. They are lives that needs to be respected and they are part of family. KAWA will do our best to make sure this case is tried as an animal cruelty case and not as a destruction of property case.  http://koreandogs.org/man-kills-neighbors-dog-to-eat/

[Update]  This case caused quite a stir among public when it became known through Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA)’s homepage.

Many people were shocked at the fact that a dog was brutally killed by a neighbor who knows very well that this dog was a companion animal that was raised like a child by his owner for over 8 years.

Police investigation of the case is in progress and as the fact that this perpetrator is currently raising 3 more dogs for purpose of eating is revealed during the process of media broadcast, shock and angry reaction among public is escalating.

KAWA decided to rescue these 3 dogs that are doomed for brutal slaughter in the hands of this perpetrator if not rescued and has been trying to get in touch with the perpetrator but he has been avoiding our contact and has not been responding to our request to hand over the dogs.

KAWA hopes that this perpetrator will give up the ownership of these 3 dogs and hand them over to KAWA as a gesture of repentance for his wrongdoing and to atone for his sin.

As a result of strong demand by Gilyongee’s family and KAWA, the perpetrator was investigated for violation of animal protection law and destruction of property charge by the Cheongsong police and this case will soon be sent to the public prosecutor’s office for indictment.

Through actively participating in the trial process KAWA will do all that is necessary for the perpetrator to receive a prison sentence for his act of animal cruelty.

In the current animal protection law, abused animals is to be separated from the abuser for at least 3 days. However, this separation period is too short and after this period the law requires animals to be returned to the abuser, making this provision nominal in preventing animal cruelty.

There is no restriction for people to own animals or hold an occupation working with animals even after being convicted and receiving prison sentence for animal cruelty causing concern that they will commit animal cruelty again.

Hence, in the wake of this Gilyongee case, KAWA will do our best to raise awareness about the magnitude of animal cruelty problem in our society. KAWA is also in the process of discussion with the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries committee members of the national assembly to enact new legislations through amendments to the Animal Protection Act in order to strengthen the rights of abused animals to take refuge away from the abuser, restrict the rights of convicted animal abuser from owning animals for a certain period of time as well as restrict their right to hold occupations that involves working with animals.

In order for KAWA’s request for amendment to Animal Protection Act to be accepted, we desperately need your participation.

Please demand from the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries committee members of the national assembly who can initiate, evaluate and pass revised bills, to revise the Animal Protection Act to have a real effectiveness.

Below is a list of names and email addresses for the 19 members of the Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries committee of the national assembly.

Kyu-Seong Choi (최규성) cks2603@assembly.go.kr
Young-Rok Kim (김영록) queendie@gmail.com / camp8866@assembly.go.kr
Jae-Won Kim (김재원) 2020jwk@assembly.go.kr
Seong-Bum Shin (신성범) sbumshin@assembly.go.kr
Myung-Hee Yoon (윤명희) m567h@na.go.kr
Wan-Gu Lee (이완구) lee_wankoo@naver.com
Un-Rong Lee (이운룡) urlee2004@naver.com
In-Jae Lee (이인제) ij@assembly.go.kr
Yoon-Seok Jang (장윤석) yschang49@assembly.go.kr
Tae-Gyeong Ha (하태경) radiohaha@naver.com
Moon-Pyo Hong (홍문표) mphonglove@hanmail.net / mphonglove@assembly.go.kr
Seung-Nam Kim (김승남) snk0411@naver.com
Woo-Nam Kim (김우남) wnkim@assembly.go.kr
Choon-Jin Kim (김춘진) kimcj@assembly.go.kr
Ki-Un Bae (배기운) najubaekw@daum.net
Ju-Hong Hwang (황주홍) pv21c@assembly.go.kr
Sun-Dong Kim (김선동) ksd519@gmail.com

The cases of raising and killing dogs to eat will continue to occur all around us.

It is difficult to report animal cruelty and killing that takes place secretly at homes behind door and even if someone were to witness it, report it to the authority and the perpetrator is convicted, continued cruelty cannot be stopped unless the Article 18 of current Animal Protection Act that allows the animal abusers to own animals is revised.

The methods and types of animal abuse crimes are increasingly becoming more diverse and cruel.

The most tragic fact of this case of neighbor killing and storing in refrigerator a dog, Gilyongee, that was raised as companion, is that even after this perpetrator is punished, he can own more dogs and repeat the same act anytime, the fact that there will be other Gilyongees to come.

We ask for your active participation to get current Animal Protection Act amended to restrict ownership of animals by animal abusers so that it will work as an effective shield in preventing animal cruelty.

Cheongsong on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/cheongsonggun

Cheongsong on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/cheongsonggun

Cheongsong Blogpage:  http://blog.naver.com/gocheongsong