Find more ways to help: https://koreandogs.org/a-plea-for-compassion-gyeongsangnam-maryland/

URGENT GLOBAL OUTCRY: END CRUEL LIFELONG TETHERING AND THE HORRIFIC, REPEATED DEATHS OF DOGS IN YOUR SISTER PROVINCE OF GYEONGSANGNAM DURING WILDFIRES

Dear Governor Wes Moore and Esteemed Representatives of Maryland,

I am writing with outrage and urgency regarding the unspeakable cruelty of lifelong tethering of dogs in your Sister Province of Gyeongsangnam, South Korea, and its catastrophic consequences during wildfires. We value the Sister Province relationship and urge your immediate, principled action on this international animal welfare crisis.

The barbaric practice of lifelong tethering—often on short chains, causing chronic neglect and suffering—renders countless sentient beings defenseless during natural disasters. Tragically, repeated wildfires in South Korea have led to horrific, preventable deaths of tethered dogs who are unable to escape. This reflects a deeply disturbing lack of compassion within segments of the Korean community toward these loyal animals’ agonizing plight.

Witness this brutal reality (Warning: Disturbing images of animal suffering in the following videos):

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7vZE_P_wGho
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sbUi7K9mPTU
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sStj0hH6MyM
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/A8OskdtJvjg
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BfEbt6s79sE
https://youtu.be/MunZMwl6BmQ
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hRocjMfllqM
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hotkDKh8Ii8
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SJ-bYNdeS6I
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CeTa4VRG6pk
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9Bway6u5sb4
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cDWUTYsVQHQ
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_LjaYeZkrQU
https://koreandogs.org/uljin-fire/
https://koreandogs.org/gangwondo-fire/
https://koreandogs.org/danbi/
https://koreandogs.org/chungju-fire/

These loyal creatures are deliberately left chained during evacuations and condemned to burn alive. This recurring horror, fueled by inadequate laws, insufficient emergency preparedness, and a shocking disregard for their suffering, demands immediate and forceful international condemnation.

As leaders of a Sister State to Gyeongsangnam Province, you have a powerful platform for ethical advocacy. We implore you to recognize the moral imperative of ending this cruelty and preventing further animal suffering. Decisive action on the international level is crucial.

Therefore, we urgently request that you:

1. STRONGLY CONDEMN lifelong tethering and the repeated, devastating immolation of dogs in your Sister Province due to wildfires, directly addressing the lack of compassion that allows this to persist.

2. IMMEDIATELY REACH OUT to your counterparts in Gyeongsangnam Province to express profound global outrage and condemnation for this ongoing cruelty. Emphasize that the continued failure to ban tethering and protect animals during wildfires risks South Korea’s international reputation, highlighting a disturbing absence of empathy.

3. STRONGLY URGE the leadership of Gyeongsangnam Province to take swift, decisive action by engaging with the national government to implement CRITICAL animal protection measures:

- IMMEDIATE AND STRICTLY ENFORCED BAN on lifelong tethering.
- IMMEDIATE ADOPTION AND ENFORCEMENT of mandatory evacuation protocols, ensuring the inclusion of all companion animals.
- SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT in public awareness campaigns to promote responsible pet ownership and the importance of untethering animals during emergencies.
- SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED PENALTIES for neglect and abandonment, particularly during disasters, to send a clear message that such disregard for animals negatively impacts South Korea’s global reputation.

4. OFFER YOUR STATE’S EXPERTISE AND RESOURCES in establishing robust animal welfare standards (including a tethering ban) and comprehensive emergency preparedness to assist Gyeongsangnam Province in preventing these recurring tragedies.

The ongoing cruelty of lifelong tethering and the repeated, horrific deaths of countless dogs in South Korean wildfires are an unconscionable stain born from a shocking absence of empathy. As a Sister State, you hold a profound moral obligation to utilize your international relationship to passionately champion these sentient beings’ fundamental right to live free from chains and the terror of a cruel death. We request decisive and immediate action on the global stage to end this tragic cycle. An online petition urging your support to stop these horrors in Gyeongsangnam Province is in progress: https://chng.it/7gvbyJ4x. We implore you to give this critical matter your urgent and unwavering attention, demonstrating your commitment to animal welfare within your sphere of influence and beyond.

Photo: In 2019, South Korea declared a national emergency due to a large wildfire in Gangwon-do, which led to the evacuation of 4,000 people and destroyed hundreds of buildings, tragically leaving many chained or caged animals to perish in the flames. https://koreandogs.org/gangwondo-fire/

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Click HERE to learn more and take action: https://koreandogs.org/sister-state-gyeongsangnam-maryland/.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan: Tell your Sister State, Gyeongsangnam Province, South Korea, that you are opposed to the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.

Gyeongsangnam Province, South Korea, became a sister state to Maryland in 1991.

This relationship was undoubtedly formed in the spirit of friendship and for their mutual benefit, business links, trade, etc. While the citizens of Maryland would have expected to learn about the differences in cultural practices of the Gyeongsangnam Province citizens, we feel sure that the Maryland authorities would have hesitated to form such a Sister State relationship had they known about the aberrant and cruel practices routinely carried out in the dog and cat meat trades in Gyeongsangnam Province 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 the disabled, guiding 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 Gyeongsangnam Province, there are countless 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. In addition, many abandoned and stolen former pets end up in this industry and are subject to the same cruelty.

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

There must surely be some social responsibility for the representatives of one state to take a stand against any wrongdoing being sanctioned or ignored by their Sister State. As such, we ask you to please urge Gyeongsangnam Province Governor Kim Kyeong-Su to take action and to state that Maryland and its citizens demand that Gyeongsangnam Province issue an official document mandating that the following existing Korean laws be enforced by its government officials, police, and judges:

The unauthorized processing of food waste fed to dogs in the meat trade violates the Waste 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.

Food waste fed to dogs in the dog meat trade violates the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act, Article 14, Sections 1 & 2. The unauthorized collection of food waste and feeding it to dogs in the meat trade violates this regulation.

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, Article 11. The excrement produced at dog meat farms causes environmental damage to the immediate and surrounding area.

Slaughtering dogs for human consumption violates the Animal Protection Act Article 8, Section 1, Clause 4. The act of slaughtering a dog without a justifiable ground, such as out of necessity for veterinary treatment or in circumstances of immediate threat, harm, or damage to human life or property, is a violation.

The slaughter of dogs by electrocution violates the Animal Protection Act, Article 8, Section 1, Clause 1. Inflicting injury or death to any animal by the following means: battery by tools, exposure to drugs, exposure to extreme heat or fire, electrocution, and drowning is subject to legal punishment. Therefore, the routine slaughter of dogs by butchers and farmers by these methods violates the Act. Further, electrocution as a method of slaughter is internationally recognized as an inherently cruel method of slaughter and is banned globally.

Slaughter of dogs from unauthorized slaughterhouses 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 operate outside the law's parameters.

Slaughter of dogs for their own 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 the process of slaughter. Therefore, the only humane way of slaughtering dogs would be by euthanasia (lethal injection). All currently practiced slaughter methods 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 own consumption is allowed only for publicly announced as classified livestock in the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, and dogs are not classified here.

Display and sale of dog carcasses in traditional outdoor markets violates the Food Sanitation Act, Article 4, 5. Violation of laws banning the sale of harmful food due to contamination from the unsanitary and illegal slaughter of the animal 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, it is likely that 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 for manufacturing or processing food for human consumption.

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/

These demands align with the spirit and goals of Sister States 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 Gyeongsangnam Province, South Korea's image. Don't let it also tarnish your State's Sister State relationship. The time to end this tragedy is now. The favor of your reply is requested.