South Korea’s lawmakers on Tuesday outlawed the breeding, slaughter and sale of canines for human consumption, a centuries-old apply that’s unpopular and uncommon right this moment.
Canine meat was as soon as extra frequent, and remained so within the many years after the Korean Struggle when the nation was destitute and meat was scarce. It’s utilized in a well known dish that Koreans name “bosintang,” or “soup good on your physique.” However the apply turned more and more shunned as incomes, pet possession and concern for animal welfare rose steadily within the late twentieth century.
Immediately, many South Koreans, particularly youthful folks, see consuming canine meat as appalling. About 93 p.c of South Korean adults mentioned that they had no intention of consuming canine meat sooner or later, and 82 p.c mentioned they supported a ban, in keeping with a survey carried out final yr by Conscious, an animal welfare group in Seoul.
“That is historical past within the making I by no means thought I might see in my lifetime,” Chae Jung-ah, the director of Humane Society Worldwide Korea, mentioned in an announcement by the group. She added, “We reached a tipping level the place most Korean residents reject consuming canines.”
With the ban’s passage, South Korea joined an inventory of different locations which have prohibited the buying and selling of canine meat, together with Hong Kong, India, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, the group mentioned. Thousands and thousands of canines are nonetheless killed every year for his or her meat in locations like Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam, in keeping with Four Paws, an animal welfare group in Austria.
President Yoon Suk Yeol’s cupboard is anticipated to formally put the ban into impact. Mr. Yoon and Kim Keon Hee, the primary woman, who personal quite a few pet canines and cats, have campaigned for the ban. The president managed to succeed after earlier governments had failed to assemble sufficient help to finish the apply.
Below the legislation, which has passed the National Assembly with broad help, an individual who butchers canines for human consumption may face three years in jail or a high quality of 30 million South Korean received, or about $23,000, after a three-year grace interval. The breeding and promoting of the animals may can be punishable by two years in jail or a high quality of 20 million received.
The legislation may even provide monetary incentives for canine farmers and house owners of eating places that serve canine meat to change jobs, requiring every to submit a phaseout plan to a neighborhood authorities.
In 2022, about 520,000 canines have been being raised for human consumption at 1,150 farms, and about 1,600 eating places have been promoting canine meat nationwide, according to lawmakers — significantly decrease than in years previous.
An affiliation of canine farmers protested the invoice within the months earlier than it handed, arguing that consuming canine meat was a matter of particular person selection, and demanding extra compensation for farmers who would lose their companies because of a ban.
The legislation’s passage marked a milestone for animal safety activists who’ve campaigned for the ban for years. Since 2015, they’ve helped 18 canine farmers shut their operations or transition into vegetable farms. The farmers gave up their animals to be adopted as pets.