Removing dogs from the same legal category as livestock

The necessary first step to revolutionizing animal rights and protection

2017.05.19 9:00am

Beloved fur children running wild and free without mechanical restriction in Seouls Boraemae Park located
in Dong Jak Gu

(Seoul=News 1) Life Team = It has been some time since the establishment of the animal protection
laws in Korea. In 1991, animal protection laws were set in an effort to solve the grey area issues
around the consumption of dogs. During this period of time, pet ownership soared in South Korea
as did the animal rights movement and pet related industries. Animal protection laws have been
improving and rewritten as time passed, along with an ever growing voice by the public that there
should be greater penalties written in the law for those who abuse animals.

Last year, in depth coverage by the local media in South Korea on the dark reality of dog meat farms
shocked the public and this outrage has triggered a movement to change laws surrounding dog
meat farms and a revision to the outdated animal welfare laws in general. In addition, the
governments proposal last year, to revitalise the pet related industries, has put the spotlight on
animal welfare issues even further.

Policies related to companion animals and animal care are handled by the Animal Welfare Team of
the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock. The team has increased from the previous team
of 3 to a team of 7 this year, however, the increase of the number of staff on the team is still not
sufficient for the mass amount of work to be done. It seems that there is a shortage of manpower
and budget in order to work flexibly.

In the meantime, the Livestock College of the Rural Development Administration officer, who had
previously been involved in the livestock industry, has been criticised of attempting to skew public
opinion by publishing incorrect information on their website. In recent years, she has also been
criticized for pursuing the 'Elementary School Animal Experience Learning Project business'. From
this year on, she is involved in various things related to companion animals.

In addition, there are animal protection departments at the Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock
Quarantine Headquarters. In the case of municipalities, the names of local governments
departments are slightly different, but they are still responsible for animal protection affairs in the
livestock sector and the livestock economy department.

However, these departments are mainly engaged in agriculture and meat industries and animal
welfare is only a part of the generalized work. Even the name of the administrative organization
mentioned above comes up first as 'livestock' rather than companion animals and animal care.

If there were no big events like the media coverage frenzy that happened last year, it is unlikely that
there would be any willingness to improve the issues of the insufficient animal protection laws at
the central government level.

Following the establishment of the animal protection laws, the progress made so far can be used to
gauge the extent to which problems related to animal care in our society have improved.

It has been around 20 years since the establishment of the first animal shelters. As for how many
breeders and sellers are operating in accordance with the standards set forth in the Animal
Protection Act, the conditions of privately owned animal shelters, the number of animal hoarders,
and the ever existent issue of the dog meat trade are areas to be investigated.

Although there has been no milestones made in the meantime, progress has still been been made
through the painstakingly difficult process.

The 'dog' we call the companion animal is still classified as 'livestock' in the animal husbandry law.
Therefore, those who are engaged in breeding and farming dog farms think that they are farmers.
So do governments and local governments.

Dogs are categorized as livestock, and the breeding facility must be approved as a 'barn' building
and equipped with a livestock manure facility in accordance with environmental laws. However, in
some animal shelters there is a place for poultry manure, which is licensed as a barn. There are
many pests and risks of infection in these so called animal shelters because of the manure collected
in one place.

The Animal Protection Act states that 'animal breeding rooms should have no pests' which is
contrary to the current state these dogs are in as they are categorized as livestock.

Recent amendments to the Animal Protection Act have been underway to coordinate subordinate
legislation. Breeding business has been changed to a system where the breeder must gain approval,
but related bodies such as the department of environmental laws and the department of animal
protection laws are issuing a warning that the local governments will be the one to be giving
approvals. Regardless of the fact that there are laws are made to protect dogs, because dogs are
classified as livestock, it is inevitable that these laws (animal welfare and livestock laws) will be in
with conflict each other. This is also a reason why it is difficult to make corrections and compare
with progress in animal protection laws made overseas.

Nowadays, even though the term 'companion animal' is commonly used, what is holding us back
from the development of the related industries to support such animals and continuing to make
reforms in response to the voices of the public?

It is the perception of the dog as livestock. To do this, first of all, the dogs should be excluded
from the animal agriculture law. Only then will the legal developments flow naturally without any
impediment due to a confusion on which laws, agriculture or animal welfare, to follow.

We are anxiously hoping that we will finally find the answer to shelter animals, the dog meat trade
and the live pet sale industry through working to separate dogs from livestock.

Myeong Bo-Young, of the volunteer group VCAA (Veterinarians Caring for Abandoned Animals)
Head of ZooZoo Pet Hospital in Gwang-Ju.

Written by Wooklee@
Translated by Jihyeon Song 21/5/17