LOS ANGELES (March 22, 2024) — On March 20, two sweet dogs rescued by In Defense of Animals and Jindo Love Rescue who escaped South Korea’s recently-banned dog meat trade, a kill shelter, and a devastating fire that burned down a rescue center, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), where they met their adopters for the first time.

“It’s an incredible moment to welcome some of the first dogs into the U.S. from South Korea following the country’s historic dog meat ban,” said Fleur Dawes, Director of International Partnerships at In Defense of Animals.

They both arrived safely at LAX, where their adopters couldn’t wait to meet them. See videos of their first introductions. 

Yoshi, a Shiba Inu, was part of an urgent rescue from a kill shelter in 2023. He was only a few days away from being killed and was also at risk from dog meat buyers who “adopt” dogs for slaughter. 

“Adopting a dog internationally is taking a leap of faith and you have to really want it because so much work is involved with the volunteers, the flight and the customs agents. I would say If you have the means and the time, open your home, open your heart and adopt one of these lovely dogs,” said Deidra Cooper, who adopted Yoshi. “I knew Yoshi was the one, so I started the application process. I had a wonderful experience with Jindo Love Rescue. It actually was extremely exciting at times. It definitely is a long process and they have developed a strong adoption system that caters to each of the dogs’ personality.”

Danny is one of only 600 Donggyeong dogs in the world. The endangered breed has a natural bob tail and is considered a national treasure in South Korea. Danny was pulled from the same shelter before he could be killed or taken by a dog meat buyer. Soon after, Danny managed to escape Jindo Love Rescue’s foster center as it burned down, but still suffered from smoke inhalation like many others, fire and chemical burns, and some minor cuts and scrapes.

“Our past rescue Jindos have been such wonderful and incredibly grateful dogs. Having had three Asian breeds in our lives, we have absolutely fallen in love with these dogs and their unique nature, plus their spunky independent personalities. There was just something about Danny that we were completely enamored with from the very beginning by looking at his photos and videos!” said Price Latimer, who adopted Danny.  “It is a massive honor to love, care for and welcome this sweet, special, extraordinary and rare creature (and part of Korean heritage) into our lives. It has been such a joy to work with Jindo Love’s incomparable and dedicated team throughout the entire adoption process.”

“We couldn’t be happier for these dogs, who are so deserving of all the love in the world. We wish them and their new families the best, and hope their lives are filled with fun and adventure,” said Patti Kim, President of Jindo Love Rescue. “We’re now urgently looking for adopters with experience with spitz breeds to apply to adopt some of our most special survivors.”

Experienced adopters are needed to adopt 11 special dogs who are especially traumatized from their experiences. Some have been rescued from dog meat farms or trucks and all have been waiting too long to find their forever homes. It is essential to open up their spaces as soon as possible in order to rescue other dog meat survivors.

“It took decades to secure South Korea's dog meat ban, but the phase out means we have just three years to save as many lives as possible and we need people to open their hearts and homes to these incredible dogs,” added Dawes.

In Defense of Animals and Jindo Love Rescue have rescued hundreds of dogs from South Korea’s dog meat trade and found them loving forever homes in the U.S. and Canada since partnering in 2017.

Learn how to adopt a dog meat survivor here: https://idausa.org/adoptasurvivor

It costs around $2,000 to save a dog from the dog meat trade in South Korea. Donations can be made to support the rescue, care and transport of dogs from the meat trade at https://idausa.org/savedogs

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Contact: 

For additional information, please contact media@idausa.org.

Images (free to use with credit to Jindo Love Rescue/In Defense of Animals):  https://bit.ly/YoshiDanny

Passengers flying any time from Incheon to airports in the U.S., including Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA) and Washington, D.C. (Dulles and IAD), are encouraged to become a flight volunteer to fly dogs to their forever homes. In Canada, airports include Toronto (YYZ) and Vancouver (YVR). https://idausa.org/flightvolunteer

Jindo Love Rescue is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to saving the lives of dogs in South Korea. With the help of our team and volunteers, we rescue as many dogs as we can from terrible conditions in South Korea’s dog meat trade and puppy mills, as well as abandoned dogs. We look for perfect, loving homes to send these dogs to in the U.S and Canada. www.jindoloverescue.org 

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a 40-year history of protecting animals’ rights, welfare, and habitats through education, campaigns, and hands-on rescue facilities in India, South Korea, and rural Mississippi. www.idausa.org

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