# Dog Farms **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-farms/316482 "2005-08-10T18:26:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-farms/316482/1 "2005-08-10T18:26:40Z")
I’ve been told that in Korea eating dogs is fairly common. A Korean friend of mine says that the dogs are not raised on farms, but are strays that are rounded up. I would think that a restaurant would want a more stable way of obtaining dog meat. A google search showed me some sites that didn’t seem to be trushtworthy sources of information. So, are dogs raised in Korea specifically to be eaten, or are they just strays? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-farms/316482/2 "2005-08-10T19:46:12Z")
Found this, from a Google cache: [http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:WUegrT60xVkJ:www.caterer-online.co.uk/archive/43113.asp+poshintang+suppliers&hl=en&client=firefox-a](http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:WUegrT60xVkJ:www.caterer-online.co.uk/archive/43113.asp+poshintang+suppliers&hl=en&client=firefox-a) > [@](#): > > …demand remains high for this national delicacy served up regularly in an estimated 6,000 dogmeat restaurants nationwide. Officially, the trade is illegal after the government deemed dogmeat a “disgusting food” and withdrew it as a lawful consumable in 1984. The Korean Animal Protection Law of 1991 went on to outlaw cruelty to all animals, yet many argue that the legislation, never enforced, has done little except push the thriving business underground. > > \< snip \> > > Counterclaims from the dogmeat industry that it kills humanely are impossible to substantiate, as dogmeat should not be technically available and authorities have yet to intervene in the illegal trade. > > \< snip \> > > Animal activists, such as Steven Wilkinson of International Aid for Korean Animals, also decry the conditions under which about one million dogs specially bred for consumption are kept and sold every year in Korea… > > “… Dogs and cats were taken off the livestock list when they were classed as ‘disgusting food’, while the cruelty to animals law passed in 1991 has never been enforced.” > > \< snip \> > > The Korean Association of Dogmeat Restaurants, set up earlier this year to provide a united front against protesters, critics and the government, believes racism and misguided cultural relativism are behind the anti-dogmeat protests. > > “Our dog-eating practice has always become an issue of concern ahead of international events, dealing a severe blow to the thousands of dogmeat restaurant owners in the country,” says Choi Han-kwon, the main organiser of the association. > > The association denies allegations that dogs are tortured before slaughter in South Korea and says it supports humane methods of slaughter. And [this:](http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/01/06/wdog06.xml) > [@](#): > > …At the rear of shop after shop, eight-month-old puppies - considered to be the prime age for eating - are packed into tiny cages welded together in rows three or four high. > > Customers choose which of the live animals they want. The dog is then taken to the back of the shop where a flimsy curtain or a swinging door obscures the sight, but not the sound, of hideous death. > > The sale and consumption of dog meat, third behind beef and pork in Korea, is technically illegal but the authorities turn a blind eye to an industry that aficionados claim has been a part of Korean culture for more than 3,000 years. The bill is intended to legalise what has been a common practice. So, I’m interpreting this all to mean that no, those 6,000 or so restaurants aren’t out there rounding up random strays, and yes, someone somewhere is raising dogs for the trade, although it’s technically illegal. You can point out to your Korean friend that, as you suspect, it doesn’t make good business sense for a restaurant owner not to have a steady supply of his raw materials. A famous seafood restaurant, for example, doesn’t wait to open for business until a fisherman turns up with some seafood for them to cook. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-farms/316482/3 "2005-08-10T20:55:29Z")
Completely anecdotal report: While stationed in South Korea right before the Olympics in 88, I saw nary a dog kennel but my subsequent postings in 93 and 96 I saw several stacked cages of dogs usually three high and two deep filled with “consumable animals” which is what my Korean girlfriend at the time (93) called them. This was in Downtown Seoul, and also in Songtan about an hour south of the Capitol. Grain of salt and all that. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-farms/316482/4 "2005-08-10T21:23:53Z")
Of course, this thread would not be complete without [this link](http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/05/Aug/cloning.html). ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dog-farms/316482/5 "2005-08-11T11:04:42Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > Of course, this thread would not be complete without [this link](http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/05/Aug/cloning.html). A case of having your dog **and** eating it.