We were surprised to learn that 1 in every 4 South Korean households lives with a pet, many of whom are dogs. In fact, the country has undergone considerable change in recent decades, not just economically but culturally too: they’re becoming a nation of pet-lovers. Much like the UK, South Korea’s pet industry is booming with tailored food, high-priced photo shoots and fancy dress all on offer for those who want to pamper their pet.
While this wildly contradicts the horrors of the dog meat trade that we know exist, there is a reason that both sides of the spectrum are occurring simultaneously…
Simply put, it’s a case of “pet dogs” versus “farmed dogs” and the distinction between the two is heartbreaking. While pets are considered part of the family, it’s widely thought that “meat dogs” or “farm dogs” lack feelings. Some even believe that these dogs don’t have souls.
In South Korea, the most common dog on meat farms is the Jindo. In fact, 3 of our 5 meat farm survivors who recently arrived in the UK were Jindos, known for their intelligence, loyalty and sleek white coats. You might also find Mastiffs, Tosas and Spaniels who, amongst others, are categorised as “meat dogs” unworthy of affection or love. In some parts of the country, vets even refuse to treat them.
In contrast, seeing a Maltese on a meat farm would almost certainly cause public outcry.
Here in the UK, as a nation of dog lovers, it seems unfathomable to pit one breed against. Sadly, this isn’t the only contributing factor to South Korea’s relentless demand for dog meat.
Contributing factors range from inadequate (and rarely enforced) animal rights laws as well as persevering cultural beliefs surrounding supposed health benefits. The result of this long-integrated “right” to eat dogs means that it’s mostly older, male citizens who consume the meat in the form of “boshintang” – a soup believed to invigorate the blood and reduce lethargy – or “gaesoju”, a tonic sold in traditional medicine shops.
The most widely believed myths surrounding the consumption of dog meat include:
But there’s actually no scientific evidence to support any of these claims. In fact, dog meat actually poses huge health risks, such as Rabies.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recognised the very real threat of rabies passing to humans through the process of sourcing, slaughter and sale of dog meat. There is also the risk of numerous parasitic infections like E.Coli and Salmonella, as well as bacterial infections like hepatitis, anthrax and leptospirosis.
Despite these very real concerns, the belief that it is one’s “right” to consume dog meat is one that dates right back to South Korea’s beginnings.
The consumption of dog meat is centuries-old and can be traced back to the country’s earliest beginnings thanks to historical evidence such as wall murals and literature. Throughout history (during war, for example) dogs have been a familiar food source and were even more plentiful than cattle, which were highly valued for labour, pulling carts or ploughing fields. As such, consuming dog meat was more about survival than choice.
Today, such survival instincts are unnecessary. So, as South Korea has undergone significant growth and development, so too has its cultural attitudes, making way for younger generations who are abandoning the tradition.
According to HSI’s 2020 opinion poll, around 80% of those who responded say they don’t or won’t eat dog meat. Almost 60% support a legislative ban on the trade.
This is a positive step in the right direction and we’re proud to be supporting that change, but until every cage is empty, there’s still lot’s to be done.
The ultimate goal is to end the dog meat trade once and for all. Thanks to the incredible work of charities like Humane Society International, Soi Dog Foundation and We ACT, that goal gets a little closer each year.
Here at Wild at Heart Foundation, we’d love to take a proactive approach to tackling South Korea’s long-integrated cultural beliefs. We’re firm believers in educating the next generation as a means of interrupting that cycle of misinformation and promote a kinder, more compassionate future for all. Sadly, it isn’t that straightforward…
Dog meat might be illegal in South Korea, but its consumption is not. Another grey area is that dogs are legislatively regarded as ‘livestock’ but not covered by the same welfare laws. Furthermore, its practices are widely absent from classrooms, which makes launching any kind of education programme virtually impossible.
Similarly, while sterilisation has helped alleviate stray dog populations all around the world, from South Africa and Thailand, to Puerto Rico and Bulgaria, the majority of dogs on these farms have been bred for purpose. As such, sterilisation would do little to stop the brutality.
Despite this, we’re determined to help – and so can you.
Donate to our South Korea Fund now
Or text SOUTHKOREA to 70085 to give £5
We ACT is a non-profit organisation working out of Korea, where their small but mighty team are closing down dog meat farms. Run solely by volunteers, We ACT liberate dogs from such conditions. They then rehabilitate them through foster care and find them forever homes around the world.
To date, they’ve saved over 600 dogs from a far more gruesome fate.
We’re incredibly proud to be supporting We ACT and have already adopted 5 beautiful dogs right here in the UK. But that’s just the beginning. This week, we’re hosting a South Korea “takeover” where we’ll be speaking to the team on the frontline; raising awareness and funds; and sharing some happy endings too!
Autumn is one of our favourite seasons here at WAHF; the colours, the crackling fire and any excuse to cuddle our dogs under a cosy blanket! But this time of year also brings a whole host of challenges – not only do walkies get a whole lot muddier, but holidays Guy Fawkes and Halloween can prove pretty scary for your dog, especially new arrivals! So we’ve put together some survival tips for the season ahead…
Halloween
What is a fun evening full of costumes and candy for us, can be unsettling for our dogs. Not only are there unfamiliar costumes but there’s strange people knocking at the door, so try these tips for a less spooky All Hallow’s Eve.
Flea treatment
It’s likely that treating fleas is already a part of your dog’s healthcare routine. But did you know that Autumn is primetime for dormant eggs to ‘wake up’ in the warmth of our central heating? Yes, it’s gross but it also makes now the perfect time to treat your home and soft furnishings – as well as your pets!
Fireworks
November 5th can be one of the trickiest nights of the year for dog-lovers around the world, especially if you have firework-loving neighbours nearby. With their loud bangs and high-pitched squeals, fireworks aren’t something your dog can easily be familiarised with, which explains why 45% of dogs show some kind of fear or distress come fireworks night.
Where possible, do try to introduce your dog to loud noises and high-pitched sounds early on. We don’t suggest regularly hosting firework displays throughout the year but a specifically-designed desensitisation CD can be played either when your dog is still young, or in the weeks leading up to fireworks season. Just be sure to take it slow, and stop at any point your dog shows signs of distress.
On the night itself, try the following tips to keep your companion calm and settled.
Hidden hazards
Antifreeze, unlit bonfires and Halloween candy are all hazards that come with the changing of seasons, but some hazards are hidden. For example, did you know that conkers and acorns are toxic to dogs? So too is the blue-green algae that forms on the surface of lakes and ponds, particularly dangerous for the avid-swimmers amongst us. We hope our tips give you the confidence to embrace Autumn with your furry companions by your side.
Last year, we began a series of ‘myth busters’ over on our Instagram, discussing some of the myths that surround rescue dogs alongside some truly amazing examples of just how wrong, and therefore damaging, these assumptions can be.
Rescue dogs have a hard enough time without unfounded myths getting in the way of a happier future. Through engagement and education, we can help brighten the prospects of thousands of dogs currently languishing in shelters around the world, waiting to be rehomed but being overlooked for a ‘problem’ that simply doesn’t apply to them. It’s time to bust those myths!
Sadly, dogs with darker fur tend to spend far longer in shelter than their golden or paler-haired friends. This is particularly heartbreaking when you have a litter of puppies to rehome, one of whom is consistently overlooked and left behind.
Why this is we can’t be sure: perhaps it stems from century-old traditions such as the witch’s “familiar” or the Hound of the Baskervilles; a modern view might be that black dogs are harder to photograph. Neither origins are fair and yet, time and time again our gorgeous bundles of black fluff are overlooked.
If you’d like to help bust the myth that black dogs are “unlucky” or “tricky to photograph”, and would like to adopt a dog, please meet the dogs currently looking for homes.
Hundreds of the 1,500 dogs we’ve rehomed have been welcomed into families with children. From newborns to teens, we truly believe a dog can transform a child’s life, teaching them so much about resilience, forgiveness and gratitude. In return, a dog’s loyalty to those who have given them a second chance is unparalleled. So this myth, in particular, breaks our hearts.
Recent success story, Martha, recently took on the role of big sister when her owners welcomed a baby girl. Not only is Martha impeccably well behaved around her baby sister, and knows exactly what’s needed of her, but she’s been a great source of support for the new parents.
We’re delighted that Martha, amongst many others, are paving the way to bust this particular myth!
Anyone who has been following WAHF for the past few months will know just how many puppies we’ve had up for adoption, from the Sugar & Spice pups to the Pepsi pups and even the Lockdown Litter.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. After all, with an estimated 1 billion puppies born on the streets every year, there’s certainly no shortage of adorable young dogs who need a home.
If you’re serious about introducing a puppy into your home and are ready to bust a myth while doing so, please meet the puppies currently up for adoption.
It’s hard to say which myth is the most damaging myth, but this one is certainly the most unfair. Whilst it’s fair to say that some rescue dogs need patience, training and consistency, the same can be said for many pedigree breeds who will demonstrate a similar spectrum of behavioural issues in their lifetime. In fact, many pedigrees come with inherited traits that prove hard to train out or overcome.
To call these dogs “damaged” is to do them a disservice: these dogs have endured a tragic start to life and come out the other side more resilient, adaptable, loyal and forgiving.
We take great pride in working extremely closely with all our partner shelters and oversea projects, and the WAHF team regularly visit, so we know our dogs come from safe and ethical backgrounds and will be well cared for right up until the day you meet them.
What sets our shelters apart, and makes overseas rescue very unique, is that our partner shelters work extremely hard getting to know the dogs in their care. They spend weeks, months and for some dogs, sadly, years getting to know them.
Here at Wild at Heart Foundation, we believe in true transparency, we help each and every dog find their ideal home, no matter their story or how niche their requirements might be.
“Why dogs?” is often the first thing people ask us, closely followed by “why dogs overseas?” Our first answer is that we believe in dog; all dogs, every dog, whatever their breed or size or age and wherever in the world they come from.
Beyond that, we point to a sadder reality: there are 600 million stray dogs around the world who are, right now, being slaughtered, eaten, tortured, beaten, gassed and starved by the thousands. In fact, there are 500,000 strays in Puerto Rico alone, an island roughly the size of North Yorkshire. The UK, in comparison, has just a 10th of that number.
When you put the problem into a global perspective, we hope you’ll see why our passion for our international projects burns so brightly.
We’re bringing ‘myth busters’ back soon and will be looking at some of the assumptions that are particularly applicable to life in 2020.
We’d love to hear from adopters and fellow dog lovers about your own experiences: Have you faced certain questions about your dog that you thought were unfair? Has your dog helped debunk some of the misconceptions that your friends and family had? Do you get frustrated with the assumptions people making about your dog or the process of adopting?
Let us know and we’ll add them to our list of rescue myths to be busted – keep an eye out on our Facebook and Instagram!
Decades of miseducation has led to a culture of cruelty, neglect and violence. The levels of abuse in Lebanon is amongst the worst we’ve ever seen: dogs tied up and shot at close range; puppies thrown from balconies; life-threatening wounds inflicted for ‘sport’ or malicious curiosity.
Following the recent tragedy, and with the country already on the brink of civil war, life for these street dogs is about to get even worse. That’s why we’re shining a light on where our passion for the dogs of Lebanon began, and how we’re helping now.
Maggie is where our work in Lebanon began, with the sorry tale of a dog who had experienced more pain than any animal ever deserves.
Maggie was found tied up on the side of the road: both eyes had been shot out; one ear cut off; pregnant; and left for dead. Later, x-rays showed the true extent of abuse: Maggie’s skull was so peppered with pellets that it became clear she had been shot in the head over and over. There is no justifiable reason for this: this is not ‘sport’ or ‘target practice’, this is animal abuse.
So when we were contacted by an independent, local rescuer, we were only too happy to step in and raise the funds needed to treat Maggie and fly her to a new life here in the UK.
Not only did Maggie survive, against all the odds, but her story has reached the farthest corners of the dog-loving community. And for good reason, because Maggie’s legacy is one of love, inspiration and hope for so many dogs like her, who are still out there waiting to be rescued.
Through Maggie’s story, thousands of people have come to learn the everyday reality for dogs in Lebanon. And with the recent tragedy placing further pressure on the economy and infrastructure, there is no time to waste.
When Maggie was found, she was pregnant and it was obvious this wasn’t her first litter. The severity of the abuse inflicted on her meant that her pregnancy had to be terminated; had she not been found, the birth alone could’ve killed her.
This is the reality for so many unsterilised dogs across Lebanon, where there just aren’t the resources needed to bring about lasting change. Here at Wild at Heart Foundation, we believe that sterilisation is the single most effective way of reducing stray populations, which is why we’re proud to be sponsoring sterilisation drives at the heart of Lebanon.
Less than two weeks on from the explosion that rocked the city, Give Me A Paw have already organised weekly sterilisation drives and rallied the support of local volunteers. Now that there is a concentrated population of stray dogs in the Karantina region, close to the site of the explosion, the GMAP team are hopeful they’ll be able to sterilise as many dogs as possible.
But the costs of sterilisation in Lebanon are some of the highest we’ve seen, at £40 for a male and £75 for a female. It’s only with your support that we’ll be able to help fund this campaign and, with enough funding, we’ll be able to support them on a long term basis.
If you’d like to sponsor the cost of one sterilisation, your donation will go directly to saving a Lebanese dog from an endless cycle of breeding. You might even be saving the life of a dog like Maggie.
On behalf of Give Me A Paw, and the dogs of Lebanon, thank you.
Wunderdog Magazine have supported us since their earliest days. It was an honour to feature on their very first print issue, with the one and only Peggy from Romania taking centre stage on the cover.
Not only was this an incredible ‘rags to riches’ tale, but it sparked the most remarkable chain of events, which led to the rescue of Mitya, a facially-disfigured puppy from Russia, demonstrating Wunderdog’s global reach.
As a voice for rescue dogs the world over, Wunderdog Magazine’s goal is to make rescue the world’s favourite breed by showcasing the work of rescue organisations and their teams who work so hard on behalf of all things dog. The team at Wunderdog champion the wonderful experiences that life with a rescue dog brings, and that’s why we’re honoured to declare them official friends of the Foundation.
It all started with our very special Romanian rescue, Peggy. In December 2018, just as Christmas fever was beginning to set in, we were contacted about a sorry tale: a puppy had been discovered in a field in Romania, abandoned in a box with her ears and tail slashed to ribbons, and – most disturbing of all – her entire nose gouged out.
In spite of everything that had happened to her, Peggy remained a sweet, loving and happy dog, and we knew we had to help her. Thanks to the generous donations of our community, Peggy flew to the UK in January 2019 where she was treated at an expert facility, before finding the perfect family to give her the love she so sorely deserved.
With her amputated ears and tail, and her tailor-made nose, Peggy certainly is a one-of-a-kind dog. So it was a truly amazing moment when we learned that Peggy would be appearing on the first ever print cover of Wunderdog Magazine – talk about rags to riches! And thank goodness she did, because her story inspired the most remarkable chain of events…
Months after the magazine was first published, a copy found its way to Russia where it was read by Ksenia, a woman who’d only weeks before come across a puppy whose nose, tail and ears had been cut off. The dog, who she’d christened Mitya, was condemned to a life of struggle at best or, worse still, the threat of euthanasia, as no vets Ksenia took him to could find a way to permanently restore his nose and therefore allow him to breathe comfortable. Mitya had even had surgery to insert false nostrils attempted; but to no success.
Ksenia may have been forced to give up hope had it not been for Wunderdog Magazine. It was seeing Peggy’s beautiful and truly distinctive face on the cover that inspired her to reach out to Wild at Heart Foundation and ask for our help – and we were, of course, only too happy to step in and help.
You can read more about Mitya’s rescue, inspired by Peggy’s story, here.
And it’s not only by building an international rescue community that Wunderdog are helping dogs in need, they’re also donating a very generous 20% of their sales to Wild at Heart Foundation.
We couldn’t be more grateful for their ongoing support and all they do for the rescue community – thank you Wunderdog!
Find out more about the magazine and purchase your subscription at wunderdogmagazine.com