On a more disturbing note this December first, I wanted to reach out to all dog and cat lovers. I’m a lover of all animals and I’ve recently faced the fact that I’ve been deceiving myself with the notion that societies do not eat dog and cat meat. I thought it was a lie, just meant to instill negative feelings toward others. I was, and still am, mortified to find out it is true. A woman I met at the woodsy area where I take Maxine has adopted a young golden retriever named Sunny who was rescued from a dog meat farm in South Korea. She is a good friend of a couple of my friends, but today was the first day I met her.
I was startled, aghast, disgusted, and sick at heart at what I learned. Apparently, the goldens are a preferred breed because they “taste better.” My stomach is in a knot as I write this and I am in tears. This is an unimaginable horror. She told me about the brutality the dogs are subjected to, which I will only touch upon because it is so awful. The dogs are beaten to make the meat “tender” and her dog has some damage from her time in the meat farm in South Korea. The other things I was told are just too sickening to subject anyone to in this post. Suffice to say, the treatment is barbaric.
Progress is being made in shutting down these dog and cat meat farms, but there is more work to be done. Also, the tide is turning in the attitude of the people of South Korea, in that they are starting to recognize the practice of raising cats and dogs for food is cruel and uncivilized. I hope they soon come to a consensus and completely abandon and outlaw the torture and killing of dogs and cats for meat.
There is a woman in my area that is involved in the rescue of dogs, Golden Retrievers in particular, from South Korea and I will have to update this post later with information about her as I am sure she needs all the help she can get. For now, however, the Humane Society International has been instrumental in shutting down thirteen farms. I am providing two links to their site for more information on how you can help and their work to date in shutting down the farms.