Protestors Help Cancel Dog Meat Festival in South Korea

by cexline | July 1, 2011 at 06:49 am

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The annual dog meat festival held close to the city of Seongnam, which is just south of Seoul in South Korea, was canceled on Tuesday due to an uproar of protests from animal rights activists.

The Korea Dog Farmer’s Association scheduled the event for Friday and their vision of the event was to promote and showcase the positive side of the dog meat industry in South Korea, where there are around 600 dog meat farms. Ann Yong-Geun, a professor of nutrition at Chung Cheong University stated:

We couldn't possibly go on with the plan due to endless phone calls of complaint ... now there are few willing to rent us a place for the event.

The event was suppose to be held in an open-air market where they wouldn’t just be showcasing various delicacies of dog meat, including barbecued dog, sausages and steamed paws, but also alcohol and makeup made from canine ingredients.

According to Yong-Geun, the festival would have displayed video clips and pictures of farm raising dogs in sanitary conditions, which is opposite of popular public opinion.

Although dog meat consumption has been a long-time Korean practice, a growing number of Koreans oppose the practice and consider it a national embarrassment.

This is making our country an international laughing stock, and making the whole world mistakenly believe that all South Koreans eat dogs," said Park So-Youn, head of Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth…Canines are the animals emotionally closest to humans. You can’t just publicly celebrate killing and eating them.