200 dogs rescued from slaughter in win-win program with farm owners

• Published date: 11 March 2023
• Publication title: The Korea Times

ASAN, South Chungcheong Province ? Just after the break of dawn on Tuesday, three vans drove down a narrow gravel road leading to a dog farm in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, some 100 kilometers from Seoul.

The dogs began barking as more than a dozen activists from Humane Society International (HSI) got out from the vehicles and approached the farm.

The maze-like compound was home to nearly 200 dogs that were locked up in filthy barren cages. Many of the canines barked and wagged their tails at the visitors, while others cowered with their ears flattened and tails tucked between their hind legs. Rusted farm equipment and food waste were found everywhere on the muddy ground. The smell of feces filled the air.

How long these dogs have been confined there without proper food or care ? watching helplessly as others got slaughtered ? was unknown.

But one thing was clear: Today would be their last day on the farm.

The dog farm was the 18th such facility to be closed down by HSI, an international animal advocacy group that campaigns to end the dog meat trade in several countries including South Korea, India, China and Vietnam.

The large-scale rescue operation in Asan was joined by staff members from the United States, United Kingdom, India, Mexico and Costa Rica. In the past few months, the activists had conducted health checkups and vaccinations on the dogs, getting them ready to fly to North America in search of a forever family.

"Most of the canines here are Tosa dogs, one of the most commonly traded breeds in the dog meat market because they grow very quickly into a large size," said Seo Borami, director of government affairs at HSI Korea, as she showed this reporter around the farm.

"Some of these dogs are wearing collars, which indicates that they may have been pets at some point. You can see the looks on their faces as if they're wondering, 'how did I end up here?'" she said.

Among the dogs looking for attention were eight nearly identical puppies and their mother, Canary, who supposedly spent all their lives on the farm. The five-month-old puppies were locked up in a roofed cage with only a little amount of sunlight. The puppies squeezed their noses through the metal cage to sniff the visitors.

The activists carefully took the dogs out from their cages one by one and moved them into crates that had their new names scribbled on the top with a marker. The dogs were then loaded onto a truck headed to Incheon International Airport, to board a flight to the U.S. for...