Olympic Athletes Save Pets From the South Korean Dog Meat Trade
Many of the millions of people watching the Winter Olympics this year may not know that South Korea is the only country in the world that breeds dogs –- about 2.5 million each year — specifically for human consumption, according to Humane Society International (HSI). There are thousands of farms across the country where dogs are raised in deplorable conditions and then brutally slaughtered for their meat.
One of these farms is not far from Pyeongchang. Six others are near Jeongseon, where downhill skiing events are taking place. There are 10 farms in Gangnueng, the city that’s hosting figure skating and hockey events.
Meagan Duhamel, a Canadian figure skater who’s going for the gold in Gangnueng, is well aware of the dog meat trade. When she and her skating partner, Eric Radford, were competing in South Korea last year, Duhamel adopted a now 2-year-old miniature dachshund mix named Moo-tae who had been destined for someone’s dinner plate.
This year, along with at least the one gold medal she’s already won, she plans to leave Pyeongchang with another rescued dog, and she hopes others will do the same.
When Moo-tae was just a puppy, he was rescued from a dog meat farm by Buddhists. He was found living in a monastery by EK Park, the founder of Free Korean Dogs, a nonprofit that helps people adopt rescued meat farm dogs and transport them to Northern America. Last year, Park took an 8-hour drive with Moo-tae to the venue where Duhamel was competing and introduced the two.
It didn’t take long for Moo-tae to crawl into Duhamel’s arms. “He loved to sit with the Buddhas during meditation and yoga,” Duhamel told the Associated Press. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, maybe this dog has some special spiritual energy.’ That was really why I chose him.”
Along with that spiritual energy, Moo-tae was blessed with a lot of good luck. According to Marc Ching, founder of the nonprofit Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, dogs that aren’t as fortunate as Moo-tae are brutally killed, since it’s believed that adrenaline helps make their meat more tender.
“In Korea they usually put a noose around the dog’s neck and take them out back, hang them and beat them,” Ching told USA TODAY Sports. “Another method is they just smash their head open. Sometimes they do electrocution. They shock them and burn them or de-fur them. With electrocution many times they are still alive. It is terrible.”
The Korean government offered to pay local restaurant owners not to serve dog meat during the Olympics. Signs advertising dog meat were temporarily covered up or removed.
“Why this has to be tied to the Olympics is that the government itself is actually paying to hide this from the world,” Ching said. “Maybe if … they just said, ‘This is part of our culture,’ it would be different.”
During the Winter Olympics in Sochi four years ago, athletes helped raise awareness of the poisoning of thousands of street dogs by exterminators. Some, like snowboarder Gus Kenworthy, brought rescued dogs home with them. Kenworthy said he would love to bring home dogs from Pyeongchang as well. Like Duhamel, Kenworthy hopes to spread awareness of South Korea’s dog meat trade, which he called “pretty inhumane.”
Duhamel told USA TODAY Sports, “There are hundreds of dog meat farms tucked away and nobody is talking about this.”
Among the athletes not talking about it is U.S. ice dance skater Alex Shibutani. “Every country and every culture has different traditions and we are always respectful of those,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “I can’t speak too much because I’m just not familiar with their culture.”
Kudos to Duhamel and Kenworthy for refusing to stick their heads in the sand. Along with animal welfare groups working to save these dogs and shut down farms, hopefully these two will help encourage their fellow athletes as well as Olympics visitors to join them in these efforts.
The majority of people in South Korea don’t eat dog meat on a regular basis. It’s time for South Korea to join other countries that have ended this cruel trade. Please sign and share this Care2 petition urging Olympic sponsors to help put an end to South Korea’s dog meat trade.
Photo credit: meaganduhamel/Instagram
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