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South Korea’s lawmakers on Tuesday outlawed the breeding, slaughter and sale of canines for human consumption, a centuries-old follow that’s unpopular and uncommon as we speak.
Canine meat was as soon as extra widespread, and remained so within the a long time after the Korean Conflict when the nation was destitute and meat was scarce. It’s utilized in a widely known dish that Koreans name “bosintang,” or “soup good to your physique.” However the follow turned more and more shunned as incomes, pet possession and concern for animal welfare rose steadily within the late twentieth century.
In the present day, many South Koreans, particularly youthful individuals, 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 response to a survey performed final 12 months 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. Tens of millions of canines are nonetheless killed every year for his or her meat in locations like Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam, in response to 4 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 assist to finish the follow.
Underneath the legislation, which has handed the Nationwide Meeting with broad assist, an individual who butchers canines for human consumption may face three years in jail or a nice of 30 million South Korean received, or about $23,000, after a three-year grace interval. The breeding and promoting of the animals can be punishable by two years in jail or a nice of 20 million received.
The legislation may even supply monetary incentives for canine farmers and homeowners of eating places that serve canine meat to modify jobs, requiring every to submit a phaseout plan to an area authorities.
In 2022, about 520,000 canines had been being raised for human consumption at 1,150 farms, and about 1,600 eating places had been promoting canine meat nationwide, in response 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 on account 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.
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