Seoul Dog Meat Trade Rally Met With Counter Protest From Animal-Rights Activists

Dog meat farmers marched in Seoul on September 22, demanding stronger legislative recognition for their industry. They were met with counter protests by animal-rights activists.

The farmers brought live, caged dogs to the protest with placards saying “These are dogs for human consumption, not pets.”

While no law in South Korea forbids eating, farming or butchering dogs, the Livestock Product Sanitary Control Act does not categorize dogs as livestock to be processed as food. The Korean Herald says the production of dog meat exists in a “legal gray area.”

The chairman of the National Assembly’s Animal Welfare Committee recently proposed legislation to ban dog meat. A farmer at the rally, quoted by the Korea Herald, said the livelihoods of a million farmers depended on the trade. Credit: Instagram/for_animal_liberation via Storyful