Eight South Korean dogs are heading to the UK for adoption this Christmas as Asia’s fourth largest economy is turning against eating dog meat.
E ight South Korean dogs are heading to the UK for adoption this Christmas as Asia’s fourth largest economy is turning against eating dog meat.
Dermot, Indie, Luna, Millie, Nara, Olive, Robin, Sandie and Tessa belong to a group of 200 golden retrievers, collies, spaniels, Korean jindos and tosas who were recently rescued by the charity Humane Society International from a dog meat farm in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
The rescue was the 13th carried out by HSI in a country where the tradition of eating dog meat is thousands of years old and was once fuelled by a belief that it aids virility.
An estimated one million dogs are believed to be eaten annually in South Korea.
Younger Koreans, however, are generally opposed to the practice and the number of dog meat restaurants is in steady decline. Their views are reflected in modern South Korea’s political and judicial systems which are progressively cracking down on the dog meat trade.
I n May a new bill was introduced to the National Assembly t hat would remove the legal basis for factory-style mass breeding of dogs.
