IAKA/KAPS EMAIL UPDATE


1. Good news for Korean wildlife
2. Send letters to the Korean government before they legalize dog-meat!
3. Sample letters to Korean President and Minister of Agriculture
4. The letter from the Olympic Committee


1. Good News for Korean Wildlife

Korea is not just a country of dog and cat eating, but it has also been systematically wiping out wildlife for 밾ealth food.? On December 30th, 2003 the Korean government passed a new wildlife protection law to banning illegal hunting, trading and consumption of wildlife products in order to counter this horrible practice.

The following are a few excerpts from news article:

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From January 2005, illegal poachers of wildlife and people eating wildlife will be punished and the penalty will be up to one year of imprisonment or a fine of up to 5000000 Korean won (about US$4170).

The Ministry of Environment announced that the National Assembly passed this new law to protect wildlife and fauna. This law was created to eradicate illegal poaching and trading of wildlife, and also to penalize the consumer of food and other products of wildlife.

This law also bans the hunting of amphibians and reptiles (such as frogs and snakes) which were not included in the 1993 wildlife protection law. Animals added as protected endangered species will include: moon bear, water deer, wild boar, pit vipers, yellowish brown snakes, badgers, and several others.

Feral cats that have been responsible for disturbing the ecosystem will also be classified as wildlife. It has been difficult to manage the feral cats as they have been classified as pet animals by law. The law will make it easy to take appropriate measures, including the capture of the feral cats. However, stray cats in the city will continue to be treated as pet animals by the Animal Protection Law.

2. **URGENT** Please send protest letters to Korean government as often possible; please tell your friends to do the same!

For the past year, KAPS/IAKA and animal friends from around world have been lobbying the Korean government to not adopt a draft law which would recognize two classes of animal ?pets and livestock. Dogs and cats would not be excepted from their definition and would therefore be 뱑aised?as livestock for human consumption. KAPS has argued that dogs and cats need to be a special category, recognizing their longstanding role as companion animals, that could not be raised as livestock. Nevertheless, the Korean government appears to be determined to adopt the new law and has set in motion a process that could result in it being approves by the Korean National Assembly in July 2004.

This, of course, is terrible news. If this law passes as planned, only dogs and cats raised explicitly as pets will be protected. Not only does this mean that dogs and cats raised for human consumption will have no protection from abuse whatsoever but it also allows for any dog abuser to get away with torturing these animals, legally, just as long as he claims the animal is not a pet.

We are asking you to send as many protest letters as possible to Korean President and the Ministry of Agriculture. This matter is most urgent, as the Korean government has already set up a time-line for the introduction of this new law: the law will be drafted and then sent to Korean Animal related organizations for review in February 2004, before being passed on to National Assembly. Please write protest letters in both email and regular mail and encourage others to do so, too. (President Roh Moo-Hyun does not have an email address. If you try emailing the Minister of Agriculture and the message does not go through, please consider sending a letter through the mail instead. AN .80?STAMP IS REQUIRED FOR LETTERS MAILED FROM THE U.S. TO KOREA.)


Animal Protection Law amendment schedule

* Consult related organizations and draw up Amendment: February, 2004
* Consult related departments and notify the public legislation in advance: March to

April, 2004
* Amendment examination by Regulation Inspection Committee: May to June, 2004
* Parliament submission: July, 2004
* Legislation: August to December, 2004
* Enforcement: January, 2005

Send protest letters to:

President Roh Moo-Hyun

Blue House

1 Sejong-Ro, Jongno-gu

Seoul

South Korea, 110-050


Minister Huh Sang-man
The Ministry of Agriculture

1 Jungang-dong, Gwacheon

Gyeonggi Prov.

South Korea, 427-760

-or-

wmaster@maf.go.kr or minister@maf.go.kr


3. Sample letter to President or the Minister of Agriculture:


Dear ________,


I am appalled to learn the Korean Government is currently drafting an amendment to the Animal Protection Law of 1991, making a distinction between certain breeds of dogs as meat-producing livestock animals and other breeds as pets. In the draft law, the definition of pet animal is an attempt to give legitimacy to dog and cat meat. The dogs and cats are protected only if people raised them purposely as pet animal. This means that any dog or cat purposely raised for food will not be protected. Not only does this deprive protection to animals who are raised for food or medicine but will also result in a situation where the law cannot punish any animal abuser who claims that their dog or cat was raised for any purposes other than pets. In 1991 your own government acknowledged that all dogs, not just certain breeds, were entitled to protection from cruelty, mistreatment, and abuse. Any amendment leaving dogs and cats purposely bred for food or medicine without protection would be a grave injustice and a major setback for the animal protection efforts in Korea.


If this new law passes, it would make Korea the first and only country in the entire world to explicitly legitimize dog meat, legally sanctioning dog and cat killing for human consumption. This would bring a great mark of shame to your country, especially when the overwhelming majority of the rest of the world has banned dog-meat, including Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines. In fact, Taiwan has recently strengthened their law to ban the killing and selling dogs as food. Almost every other country in the world, especially those as developed as Korea, is moving forward with animal protection laws. Why do you want to embarrass your country and let it be known as the only country taking a step backwards?


Our boycott of Korea뭩 bid for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games was successful. After choosing Vancouver, Canada, as the host city, the International Olympic Committee sent letters to International Aid for Korean Animals and The Korea Animal Protection Society asking them and their supporters to stop bombarding their offices with protest cards. I promise that if the proposed amendment to the Animal Protection Law of 1991 passes, we will do everything in our power to se that Korea will loose all of its bids to host any major event, including all international sporting events and World Expositions. I, and my many animal loving friends from around world, will send protest letter after protest letter informing the organizers of such events as to the horrors that take place inside Korea, letting them know that they should reconsider before choosing Korea as a host city.

All Dog and Cat are companion pet animals and should not be raised for human consumption.

4. The following is the letter to IAKA/KAPS from the Olympic committee:

Dear Sir,

The International Olympic Committee regularly receives postcards and letters from web users, inspired by your website www.koreananimals.org, asking us not to award the 2010 Olympic Winter Games to the city of Pyeong-Chang, South Korea.

We would like to inform you that, on 2 July 2003 in Prague, the IOC Session elected the city of Vancouver, Canada, as the host city for the XXI Olympic Winter Games in 2010.


We thank you for taking due note of this information.

Yours faithfully,

The International Olympic Committee


Sample Letter to Korean President or Minister of Agriculture
Dear ________,

I am deeply shocked and saddened that you still have not changed the definition of 뱎et animals?in your proposed Amendment to the Animal Protection Law. Specifically, I am very concerned about the following clause:

Article 2, Clause 3: 밫he pet animals?are dogs and cats raised for the purpose of companionship and developing an emotional attachment to humans and other animals; as designated by the Minister of Agriculture.

As proposed by the Korean Animal Protection Society, the clause should be changed to:

Article 2, Clause 3: 밫he pet animals includes all dogs and cats. Other animals can be 뱓he pet animals? if raised for the purpose of companionship and developing an emotional attachment to humans; as designated by the Minister of Agriculture.

All dogs and cats are pet animals and should not be raised for human consumption. Your proposed Amendment is nothing but an attempt to legalize dog meat. If it goes forward as proposed, I promise that I will do everything in my power to let the world know that your Amendment is a wolf in sheep뭩 clothing. Korea will be seen as a backward, hypocritical nation, pretending to protect animals while actually protecting the dog meat business.

If you care about the future of Korea, you should make every effort to eliminate the dog and cat meat industry. Defending dog eating, as a part of Korea뭩 culture, only increases the damage to Korea뭩 image. What will Korea look like in the world뭩 eyes when it is the first developed society to legalize dog meat? Your decision to side with the dog meat industry is short sighted and will cause Korea great harm. It is not too late to change your mind.

Yours sincerely,