South Korea Passes Bill Banning Consumption Of Dog Meat (image@ Pixabay)

On Tuesday, South Korea’s parliament passed a bill banning eating and selling of dog meat. The move will end the centuries long practice in Korea amid the increasing support for animal welfare. Koreans believe dog meat would help in increasing stamina during the infamous summer humid in the region.

But the practice of become largely limited to older people, as more Koreans started to consider dogs as family pets and criticism on slaughtering dogs has grown. According to activists in the region, dogs are mostly electrocuted, or hanged when slaughtered for their meat. Breeders and traders argue that there has been change in the methods of slaughtering, making it more humane.

The bill banning the eating of dog meat was passed with an overwhelming 208 votes and two abstentions in the single-chamber parliament. The support for ban has increased when under the rule of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is an animal lover and has adopted six dogs and eight cats with first lady Kim Keon Hee, who is also a vocal critic of dog meat consumption.

The bill that states to “eradicate the consumption of dogs” will come into effect after three years of grace period. Though the bill does not specify any penalties for consuming dog meat, practice of breeding and slaughtering of dogs to produce meat for human consumption will be punished with three years in prison or 30 million won ($22,800) as fine.

In a survey released by Animal Welfare Awareness, Research and Education, which is a Seoul based think tank, more than 94 percent of the respondents said they have not consumed dog meat for the past year and about 93 percent said they would not do so in the future.

Earlier efforts of banning the consumption of dog meat met with failure in the face industrial protests. The new bill seeks to provide compensation for business owners, so that it can move out of the trade.