Seoul Categorizing Dogs as Livestock

[dude]

Seoul Categorizing Dogs as Livestock

By Kim Tae-jong

Korea Times

Staff Reporter

Seoul will propose to the central government that dogs should be categorized as livestock in order to properly regulate the trade of dog meat and strengthen sanitation inspections.

The proposal aims to solve the ironic situation where many Koreans enjoy eating dog meat despite the absence of regulations on the sale of dog meat amid ambiguous categorization of the animal, a city official from the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) said.

``The real problem is, we cannot regulate the sanitation process of how dog meat is served due to the lack of regulations,'' the official said. ``We will have a series of public hearings to discuss the issue as it's a necessary step.''

Under the current law, dogs are categorized in the same group as donkeys, rabbits, horses and deer, not as livestock such as beef and chicken.

The categorization allows for the mass breeding and butchering of dogs and serving of their meat at restaurants, but does not let the authorities apply regulations for livestock to the trade of dog meat.

According to the Korea Food and Drug Administration, dog meat is also categorized as a natural product because it is not included in livestock. It means that unlike ordinary stock products such as beef or chicken, dog meat does not undergo sanitation inspections.

For now, the authorities can only take a legal action against those who butcher dogs in a brutal way or cause pollution to the environment during the slaughter process, according to the Law on Animal Protection and the Law on Pollution, respectively.

There were previous attempts to categorize dogs as livestock, but they were scrapped due to strong criticism from animal rights groups inside and outside of the country.

In 2001, 20 lawmakers proposed a bill to revise the Law on Stock Product Process, aimed at setting up proper regulations on dog meat. But the bill was scrapped without being properly dealt after meeting criticism from animal rights groups and dog lovers.

e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr

[DesDownunder]

It's times like this I am glad I'm a vegetarian.

[Trab]

It's cultural, totally. My brother raised rabbits for the Italians in our town, and had a thriving business. Many Dutch people think nothing of eating horse, and we all know French people will indulge in frog legs and snails, even going so far as to make this an internationally recognized delicacy. So, truly, is dog any different?

[Cole Parker]

Hey, I like froglegs. They're yummy!

But do frogs walk up to you and lay their heads in your lap and look soulfully into your eyes with large and caring ones of their own?

I've never known any frogs like that.

C

[Trab]

No, Cole. They HOP up. Geez. I guess your experience has only been with those prosthetically refurbished frogs. Walking frogs.

[JamesSavik]

Big stoopid cows and smelly chickens: we do them a favor eating them. They got no soul.

Look at a golden retreiver or an Aussie shepherd and tell me that you can't see the difference.

[Cole Parker]

Exactly! I rest my case.

C

[Trab]

A lot of cattle, particularly dairy, will look at you with those same eyes. Chickens? Well, you convinced me at breaded.

[Cole Parker]

Trab, I have absolutely no idea how much time you've spent looking soulfully into the eyes of cows ( or is it bulls, in your case? ) and I accept that some people do that<g>, but I don't think you can compare it to befriending a dog. Dogs come when called. Cows just chew. Dogs fetch with delight when tossed something. Cows get tossed over by drunked teens; there isn't much in common there. Dogs pass gas and everyone winces. Cows do it and scientists, low level and over matched ones, are thinking about how to heat a village with the output. Is that the village that's going to raise our children? Hope they have abundant clothespins for their little noses. Dogs are man's best freind. Cows are man's best meal.

Where chickens come into the mix, I'll leave to you. Breaded or not.

C<g>

[Oliver]

But what about the little sweet rabbits?

Here in the Netherlands they are kept, fed, cuddled...... and eaten with Christmas.

We're barbarians, I know.

So you are saying that when it is not doing nice things for you or just ugly, you can eat it?

*Olli looks at his manager*

Anyone cares for a bite?

I'd rather stick with Trab's opinion; it's cultural.

[Cole Parker]

I think someone mentioned the word 'barbarians'.

I rest my case again.<g>

C

[DesDownunder]

My grandparents had friends who ran a dairy farm. They had chickens and cows.

The cows and the chickens were treated like pets. The animals had names that they responded to.

The horses on the farm would nuzzle us kids for us to take them for a ride.

The chickens walked around and clearly had favourite humans who they followed.

The dogs and the cats on the farms slept alongside each other as well as played with us kids.

There was really little difference amongst the animals as to their intelligence.

The dogs were clearly more intelligent, but all had the ability to recognise each of the humans.

This was in the days when the animals were killed as needed and eaten.

Even so there were at least two cows and some of the hens that would never be killed as they were pets.

My last step-father was a butcher. So for my teen years we had the choicest prime cuts of Australian beef, pork and lamb everyday. I assisted my step-father cleaning the butcher shop after school. As a young carnivore it never occurred to me to eat anything but what I was given.

WARNING the following section is not for queasy stomachs.

In my twenties and thirties I read about other cultures that ate little or no meat. I thought that was weird,

Then one day I saw an educational (?) film on how animals were killed for human consumption.

This film was supposed to reassure people that the preparation of meat was hygienic and humane.

I watched with tears in my eyes as the still conscious pig had its throat cut and was then hung upside to drain its blood under the force of its own heartbeat. Cattle were placed downwind to raise the level of adrenalin from the smell of the dead animals before they too were killed, This we were told in the movie, would improve the flavour and tenderness of the meat.

I made up my mind that nothing more would die so I could live, and I became a vegetarian.

Now I am a practical person and don't judge others for their eating habits, but I do find it necessary to make it clear that animals are conscious of their life. Oh not to the same degree we are, but in varying degrees.

Whether they have 'souls' or not is not the issue. I am not even convinced I have a soul. However I am convinced life is sacred in all its forms. Many hippies adopted the vegetarian rule "If it can't run a way from you, it is probably okay to eat it."

If you want to eat meat go ahead, the choice is yours, and I will dine with you (with my vegetarian food and you with your meat) without second thought or judgement; just be aware that the animal has been sacrificed for you to live and please pay it due reverence.

I vacate the soapbox.

[Tanuki Racoon]

I have eaten many critters once. Some willingly (caribou, moose, elk, venison, cow, pig, chicken, quail, fish, sting ray, and so forth) and some unknowingly (dog, horse, shark, eel, snake). Some of it I liked and would eat again, others not. This isn't a brag -- it's a disadvantage of travelling to places on the planet most people don't even know exist.

I will say that of all those meats, the one I knew ONE BITE IN was dog. I took the first bite, knew what it was INSTANTLY. I kicked my fellow traveller under the table to clue him in and saved him from having to even know what it tastes like.

It repulses me that people eat dogs (and other pets) but I can't point a finger without being critical. For many years there was a chain of restaurants called "Le Chien Que Fume" which served something nobody on here should have to eat.

[Lugnutz]

Dogs are man's best friend. Cows are man's best meal.

Looks like new sig material to me.............