Ending the dog and cat meat trade

In many countries across Asia, traders steal dogs and cats from the streets, steal pets from their homes and buy unwanted animals from their owners. The terrified animals are crammed together onto the backs of trucks and driven across the country. If they survive the journey, they face agonizing deaths through bludgeoning, blowtorching, drowning or hanging.

In South Korea, dogs are kept and bred in barren cages on meat farms exposed to the blistering summer heat and freezing winter snow without proper food or veterinary care. They suffer from diseased skin, infected eyes, malnutrition, deformed limbs, untreated wounds as well as from the mental anguish of their deprived existence. They are typically killed by electrocution at around one year of age.

The World Health Organization warns that the dog meat trade poses human health risks from trichinellosis, cholera and rabies. Even if only a small percentage of people consume dog meat, the the mass movement of dogs of unknown disease status, unsanitary conditions at slaughterhouses and markets, and decreased herd immunity when vaccinated dogs are removed from their communities put millions more in danger.

Across Asia, most people don’t eat dogs, but consumption is higher in certain regions and at certain times of year. In South Korea, more dog meat is eaten during Bok Nal (the three hottest days of summer) in the mistaken belief that it offers health benefits. In China, dog meat is more popular in provinces such as Guangdong, Yunnan, Guangxi (where the infamous Yulin dog meat “festival” takes place), Jilin and Liaoning. 

The public is increasingly speaking out against this cruelty.  Dog meat bans exist in—among others—Hong Kong; Taiwan; Thailand; the Philippines; 80+ cities, provinces and regencies across Indonesia and in some cities in mainland China and Cambodia. In January 2024, the South Korean government passed a landmark law banning the dog meat industry, which will see a complete phase out of the industry by 2027.