South Korean lawmakers propose bill to ban killings of dogs

Accra, June 21,(UPI/GNA) – A revised animal
protection law that aims to ban killings of dogs has been proposed by lawmakers
in Seoul.

The proposed legislation seeks to prohibit
unlawful killings of animals such as dogs and cats that are not categorized as
livestock.

It also mandates people in slaughtering
businesses to prepare measures to minimize sufferings of animals in a killing.

The current law doesn’t force suffering
prevention, but says slaughtering should not cause fear or stress to animals.

“This proposed bill aims to ban arbitrary
killings of animals and stop any gruesome acts of killing. It will give lawful
protection to animals and ban any killings of animals that fall into the gray
area of the current animal protection law,” Pyo Chang-won of the
Democratic Party of Korea said in a statement.

Across the country, dogs are raised and
slaughtered for the dog meat trade, but are not regulated by the sanitary
processing of livestock act, said Lee So-young, Pyo’s secretary officer.

Eating dog meat has been practiced for many
years here. However, it has met criticisms for the horrific conditions and ways
in which dogs are raised, treated and later killed for the dog meat trade.

“As dogs fall into the gray area in the
law, there are still many cases in which dogs are slaughtered cruelly in
unreported places,” Lee So-young, secretary of lawmaker Pyo Chang-Won of
the Democratic Party of Korea, told UPI.

“This revised law responds to the growing
interest in animal protection and the need for legislation that would offer
practical measures to prevent animal abuse and illegal killings,” said
Lee.

GNA