CAGED ACTIVISTS TO DOG KOREA OVER ANIMAL CRUELTY
Members of In Defense of Animals protest Korean Embassy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Holding signs that read: "Korea: Stop Cruel and Illegal Dog Consumption," caged members of In Defense of Animals (IDA) will protesting the Korean government's refusal to enforce laws prohibiting the beating, hanging, burning, electrocution, and boiling alive of dogs and cats for consumption.

Date: Friday, December 5
Time: 12 p.m.
Place: Embassy of Korea, 2320 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.

Why do activists have their hair in hackles over South Korea's treatment of animals? South Korea has a law prohibiting the consumption of dogs and cats and another that considers dogs to be "domestic pets." The law is ignored and the government blithely ignores offenders. Before dogs are killed for meat, they are often strung up by their legs and beaten.

Dog butchers extol the virtues of their product, embellishing that the adrenaline rush that dogs experience by being bludgeoned to death enhances virility. Cats don't fare any better-viewed as pest animals, they are boiled alive so their "juices" can be extracted for health tonics purported by butchers to alleviate symptoms of rheumatism.

IDA has received many letters from Korean citizens concerned about the torture, but too afraid to disclose their names, let alone speak out. As one woman described, "Using all his strength he pulled the dog by his left leg. Next he did the same with the right leg. While the dog was still alive, he was tearing his body apart. The dog was moaning with horrible pain. He thought I was someone who enjoyed dog meat. He smiled at me and proudly told me, 'Dogs should take a long time to be killed, that way it tastes better.'"

"It's inconceivable that innocent beings whom we consider 'man's best friends' could be so brutally killed, butchered, and eaten," says IDA president and founder Elliot M. Katz, DVM.

For more information on IDA and its Korean Dog Campaign, please visit www.IDAUSA.org.

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