23 Dogs Were Destined For Slaughter. Now They Have Homes.
In January, I shared the story of 23 dogs who managed to make it out of a dog meat farm in South Korea - which, for all of the other dogs who've ever met the fate of being caught up and caged in such a facility, has always been a dead end. For these dogs, the story line changed. In a life-changing circumstance, they found their way into the arms of staff members of Humane Society International. We then transported these survivors to the US, to find forever homes with people who'll never let anyone hurt them. In this heartwarming video, you will hear the stories from the new caregivers who adopted three of these dogs - Snowball, Rusty, and Luna.
Of course, these wonderful stories don't negate, and shouldn't distract our attention from, the terrible things happening to thousands of dogs on farms supplying animals for the meat trade. In fact, 1.2 to 2 million dogs are eaten annually in that country - with most of the dogs raised on meat farms. Our video is just part of a major campaign we're launching to get the people of South Korea and other Asian countries to rethink and find a way out of this hideous trade. Since January, we have closed two dog meat farms and rescued and re-homed 80 dogs in the US, who now serve as ambassadors for this campaign. We have also helped the dog meat farmers involved transition into the humane trade of growing crops.
This is only the beginning. Our HSI team recently met with several different dog meat farmers to learn more about their needs and their desire to move out of the dog meat industry, and we are identifying our next farm to convert. As we did in prior rescues, we'll bring some of the dogs to the US and shelter and work with our emergency placement partners to find them homes.
Our team will also reach out to the South Korean government in coming months to request a meeting to discuss a subsidized, phase-out program for dog meat farmers, in the hopes of putting an end to this industry before the 2018 Olympics in South Korea.