User:ProtestAgainstIt

In 1980 in Korea, a commercial trade started, this of which being dog and cat killings for meat. It all started when a boom in the economy made scarce 'livestock' meats suddenly affordable.

The Korean Government has failed to enforce its 1984 Ministry of Health law banning dog and cat meat, and its 1991 Animal Protection Law banning cruelty to animals.

This is not an issue of 'cultural differences'. Caring Koreans and most people worldwide know that no animal should be tortured and abused. Yet Korean cat and dog dealers deliberately inflict maximum pain to dogs and cats. The Korean government recognised the terrible suffering caused by the dog and cat meat trade when it outlawed dog and cat meat stew in 1984.

Every year, 2.6 million dogs and countless cats are killed and eaten in South Korea. Slaughter includes hanging by the neck, prolonged beatings with pipes and hammers, and electrocution. Often, cats are boiled alive, and dogs are routinely blow torched to remove their fur and brown the skin, sometimes still being alive.

There is little doubt that the South Koreans are a very imaginative and inventive people, as has been proven through their technological advances in their manufacturing processes in recent years. A sick and perverse minority however insist in utilising this inventiveness in their torture of animals. Their patience can be extraordinary, in that they can systematically torture a dog for an hour or more before it finally dies in agony.

Although cats are eaten in South Korea, it is more usual for them to be rendered into a "medicine" to treat rheumatism and arthritis. Unlike dogs, cats are not bred on specialist farms. This would not be cost effective when there are always starving strays. These are collected in sacks and, if lucky, are beaten to death with either a stick or hammer blows to the head. More commonly, they are boiled alive with herbs (sometimes after having their limbs broken to reduce their ability to struggle) until their flesh liquifies. The resulting "liquid cat" (known as "Goyangi soju") is then sold in small sachets. An average size cat, when cooked with dates, herbs and chestnuts, will produce 20-25 of these sachets.