About 196 dogs were rescued from the dog meat trade in South Korea thanks to a successful rescue operation by Humane Society International.
The dogs – which included Golden Retrievers, a Poodle, Korean sindos, Mastiff, Pomeranians, Terriers, and a Labrador – landed in the United States on Friday, and are now in search of loving homes.
While waiting for their fur-ever families, majority of the rescued dogs will be cared for by Humane Society International and Humane Society of the United States’ temporary shelter in Maryland. The others, on the other hand, will be taken to another shelter ran by Humane Society of Canada in Montreal.
The dogs will receive veterinary treatment in both shelters, and they will be scheduled to move to shelter partners across the United States in the following weeks.
Of those rescued, 170 came from a single dog meat farm that HSI closed down in partnership with the farmer. This also marks HSI’s 17th dog meat farm to be permanently closed down. The other 26 dogs were rescued by HSI from previous operations, but was not able to leave their temporary shelter due to travel restrictions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Although most people in South Korea don’t regularly eat dog meat, and support for a ban is growing, there remain thousands of farms of all sizes across the country where dogs of all breeds endure a harsh existence,” Kelly O’Meara, HSI’s vice president of companion animals campaign, said in a statement.
“With fewer people wanting to eat dog, farmers can see the writing is on the wall for this dying industry and so they work with HSI to find a solution that gives both them and their remaining dogs a chance of a new life,” she added. “With such interest from dog farmers, and public support, we hope the Korean government will adopt this type of approach to phase out the dog meat industry for good.”
