South Korea Takes a Bite Out of Cruelty: Historic Move to Shut Down Dog Meat Industry, Rescue 500,000 Pets

This content was published on September 26, 2024 – 16:35

South Korea will help find new homes for nearly 500,000 dogs bred for human consumption, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said on Monday, offering subsidies and incentives to help businesses prepare for a ban on eating dog meat expected to take effect in early 2027.

Dog meat has long been part of South Korean cuisine, with activists saying up to a million dogs are killed and sold each year, but consumption has fallen sharply in recent years as more South Koreans keep dogs as pets.

Reuters reported that due to the growing awareness of animal welfare in society, the number of people eating dog meat has decreased. South Korea’s parliament passed a bill in January to ban the consumption and sale of dog meat, ending this controversial tradition that has lasted for hundreds of years.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said today that the government will provide compensation ranging from 225,000 won to 600,000 won (about NT$5,079 to NT$13,545) per dog to farms that agree to close before the 2027 deadline.

“In order to actively reduce the number of dogs currently being bred for food, which is 466,000, we plan to encourage breeders to voluntarily limit breeding,” the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement.

Park Beom-su, vice minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs, said the government has temporarily allocated about 100 billion won to help 5,898 farms, slaughterhouses, restaurants, distributors and other businesses wind down their operations.

The government will also encourage people to adopt these dogs or relocate them to safe places to avoid them being slaughtered before the ban on eating dog meat comes into effect.

There are more than 1,500 dog breeding farms and more than 200 slaughterhouses in South Korea, and about 2,300 restaurants still serve dog meat to consumers.