As South Korea prepares to enforce a nationwide ban on the breeding, slaughter and sale of dogs for meat next year, a troubling question has emerged: What happened to the hundreds of thousands of dogs that once supplied the country’s dog meat industry?According to government estimates, between 400,000 and 450,000 dogs were being raised for meat in 2024. Today, that number has fallen to around 20,000, as farms shut down ahead of the ban, which takes effect in February 2027. But officials have no records showing where most of the animals went.“Our role is to verify that dogs are no longer present at farms or slaughter facilities before providing compensation,” a South Korean agriculture ministry inspector told AFP on condition of anonymity.“We are not involved in what was done with the dogs,” he said.The country’s landmark legislation, passed in January 2024, outlaws the breeding, slaughter and sale of dogs for human consumption. Violators face prison terms of up to three years.To encourage farmers to exit the industry, the government offered compensation of up to 600,000 won (about $390) for each dog removed from farms.However, official data obtained by a lawmaker showed that by February only 623 dogs had been adopted and fewer than 500 had been transferred to shelters, leaving the fate of hundreds of thousands of animals unclear.Animal welfare groups believe many of the dogs were slaughtered before the law comes into force.“If large numbers of rescued dogs had entered adoption programmes, animal groups like us would know about them,” said Kim Young-hwan, a representative of animal rights group CARE.“We haven’t seen any adoption campaigns for dogs rescued from dog farms,” he told AFP.CARE says it has rescued and rehomed about 2,500 dogs from farms over the past two decades, with most sent overseas because South Koreans generally prefer smaller pet breeds suitable for apartment living.Dogs raised for meat are typically large breeds such as the Nureongi, or Korean Yellow Spitz.Former dog farmer Ju Yeong-bong acknowledged what may have happened to many of the missing animals.“In South Korea, a distinction has long been made between dogs raised for food and those kept as pets,” Ju told AFP.Asked about the fate of the thousands of unaccounted-for dogs, he said they had likely “already been eaten.”That possibility is “infuriating,” said CARE’s Kim, adding that animal welfare organisations lacked the capacity to rescue such large numbers of dogs.According to the agriculture ministry, 1,265 dog farms, or about 82% of the country’s total, had applied to shut down by May.Ju, who also serves as a Christian pastor, said he entered the dog farming business in 1994 after struggling to earn a living through his ministry.“I feel the dog meat ban is a betrayal,” he told AFP.“It was imposed for political reasons, without meaningful dialogue or adequate measures to protect our livelihoods.”Many former dog farmers are attempting to shift to other livestock businesses, but government licensing procedures have slowed that transition, he said.Animal rights advocates argue the ban closes a long-standing legal loophole surrounding the treatment of dogs raised for meat.Unlike cattle or pigs, dogs were never officially classified as livestock in South Korea, allowing the industry to operate for decades without regulations governing breeding or slaughter practices.Animal rights groups allege dogs were commonly electrocuted, hanged or beaten to death.At an abandoned slaughterhouse in Pyeongtaek, AFP journalists found rusty cages containing dog skulls alongside equipment allegedly used to electrocute animals.“They often remained conscious while their internal organs burned,” Shin Joo-woon, a campaigner with animal welfare group KARA, told AFP.“Other dogs would witness the process.”KARA said it rescued 29 dogs from the Pyeongtaek facility last month and has filed an animal cruelty complaint against the farm owner.
4 lakh dogs vanished before South Korea's meat ban. Where did hundreds of thousands of dogs go?
