English Caption for “Dog Fighting in S. Korea Exposed on TV Program Losers End Up As Dog Meat”: http://youtu.be/fAKnu00wuzY
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MC: In our program about the serial dog disappearance case that previously aired last May, there was this “Baekgu”(means white dog) that had a lot of serious scares all over his body.
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Vet: I am guessing that this dog might have been used for dog fighting.
MC: It is highly probable that this dog ran away from a farm that raises dogs for dog fights.
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After this program aired last May, we received tons of letters from viewers requesting the banning of dog fight but it was hard to find the scene of the dog fights due to its illegal and secretive nature.
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And then a few months later we were alerted about dog fight going on from an informant. He said he knew the location where these dog fights were taking place.
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He wants the dog fight to be banned so he is risking his life to provide this information to our production team. He asked that police not accompany him and that he comes secretively.
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We decided to meet the informant. However, the informant did not show up.
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After waiting for awhile, we received a call from the informant.
Informant: There is a dog fight tonight.
PD: Where is the location of this dog fight?
Informant: The location is Kyungsangnamdo (province), Namji-city.
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PD: Where is it exactly in Namji-city?
Informant: Exact location has not been communicated yet. I will tell you about it later when I find out the exact location.
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We decided to wait for the informant’s next call from the Namji-city.
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And then the informant sent a text with the exact location of the dog fight.
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This location is far off from the city. A very remote location deep in the mountain where there would be no people around.
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What would be going on in this location?
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After a long drive, as we are arriving at the destination we suddenly starts to see a heavy traffic of cars.
Cars gathering in a remote mountain in the middle of the night.
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Cars continuing to arrive causing shortage of parking spaces.
After looking around we were able to see a group of people standing around the lighted area.
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There was even a mobile snack bar selling foods. This place was busy with activities like a busy city street in the middle of night.
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Suddenly people started to head over to one area. As we cautiously approached the crowd we saw a dog (A Jindo, a traditional Korean dog) inside the makeshift cage.
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Dog fighting must be starting. People are starting to gather around.
When another dog enters the cage, the dogs starts to show their aggressions.
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Voice of Gambler: It’s 2,500,000 KRW ( 1 USD = 1,120KRW( Korean Won)), 3,000,000 KRW? Do you have 3,000,000 KRW?
This guy was collecting money.
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Voice of informant: Usually each fight is worth about 10,000,000 KRW. (9,000 USD)
For one dog fight 10,000,000 KRW (9,000 USD) exchange hands.
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Finally the fight has started. Fight between two Jindo dogs.
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Fighting each other with such aggression they start to bleed.
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Fighting is becoming more intense.
Voice of a spectator shouting: It’s ok, it’s ok. Go ahead and bite him off. Bite him!
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It looked like the fight was coming to an end…at that moment the atmosphere was starting to be alarming.
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Voice of a man: Hurry up and get out! Hurry, hurry!
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Someone heard that the police was on its way here.
People are leaving the scene.
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Voice of informant: Usually we bribe the law enforcement with around 300,000 KRW to 500,000 KRW. We have an existing relationship with the law enforcement here to help each other.
So because of this relationship we usually don’t get arrested.
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Because they have a relationship with the law enforcement they can be alerted about the police raid ahead of time.
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The people who have left the scene of the dog fight was all heading over to a deeper part of the mountain. We cautiously followed this traffic.
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The location this traffic arrived was a scene of another dog fight. We can see even greater crowd here.
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There are at least several hundreds of people gathered around here. And another dog fighting ring is set up.
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Surrounded by hundreds of people there was a fight already in progress. This fight is between Pit bull terriers known for being used for dog fighting.
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The fight was becoming more violent and intense. People are getting excited.
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As one dog appears to be winning the fight, a man appeared and started to collect money.
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Dogs are fighting even more fiercely.
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People are focused in the fight to find out who wins the fight. A little bit later an injured dog is finally down on the ground. However this fight is not easily ending like it did in the last fight.
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Voice of informant: Pit bull terriers will fight to the end. They will not stop.
The fight doesn’t end until the other dog is completely down.
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Dogs are fighting sacrificing their lives for the greed of humans.
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Fighting to the end with their lives……this is the tragic fate of these fight dogs.
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And then few days later, we were able to be in contact with the informant again.
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He said he will show us a farm in secret location where they train these fight dogs.
Informant: You have to make sure everything remains as a secret.
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Informant: You can’t record the road to the farm. I will have to cover your face so please understand.
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The condition of the informant showing the dog fight training farm was that the producer of this program can’t disrupt or get into their business.
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After driving for a long time, they finally arrived at the destination.
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However we don’t see a farm. Instead we are walking for a long time.
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PD: This looks like a construction site.
Informant: Yes, because it has to be in a location without too much human traffic.
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This farm was located in a place that is very far from a residential area.
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And in this farm, we started to see many dogs with big body. Among these dogs, the market value of the ones that have won several games are going for tens of thousands of dollars.
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These dogs are raised and trained to fight.
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Their body was covered with scars and signs of injuries.
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Everyone of these dogs had scars from their fights of survival.
Unbelievably tragic fate of having to bite and fight their own for their own survival….
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In front of this cruel reality, these dogs were powerlessly just starring with eyes of fear.
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We saw another dog covered with something on his face.
PD: What is that on his face?
Informer: That is an antibiotic ointment.
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Even with the serious injuries, putting on an antibiotic ointment is all the medical treatment they get.
However we saw something that was even more shocking.
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Dog was lying covered with blood and injuries all over his body…with no strength.
From his face to his legs, his whole body was badly bitten and paralyzed.
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This dog lost a recent fierce fight and he is trembling. He must not even have the strength to move.
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Informant: He lost all the energy after losing his last fight. He will probably die within a week. That’s what usually happens to losing dogs.
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Informant: In the case of Pit bull terriers, once he loses a fight he can’t be used for another fight. It can never happen. Their next destination will be to the dog meat restaurants.
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Once losing a fight they are immediately discarded as a dog meat.
If they can receive a medical treatment from the farm owner he would be considered lucky.
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PD: Why is there injection needles?
Informant: In order to treat their injuries here. Because taking the dogs to the Vet costs money.
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No matter how serious the injuries are they are never taken to the vet.
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At that moment a man is taking one of the dogs to somewhere.
The dog is struggling and being defiant.
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In the end, he was put on a running treadmill. In order to win the fight this is a must training for these dogs.
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These harsh training is repeated every day. He has to be in this treadmill for at least an hour everyday in order to be able to fight. He will be ready to fight within a couple of months.
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The dog is exhausted but a man is trying to stimulate the dog by waving duster in front of his face.
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Even after awhile the training is not stopping.
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Exhausted dog is running with the last strength left in him.
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He can’t stop because he is tied with the leash on top of the treadmill.
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The dog tries to continue running but slowly he is losing his strength and finally collapses on top of the treadmill.
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The leash around his neck is cutting off his breath so he gets up and tries to give it another try.
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These harsh training continued…. After a while a man releases him from the treadmill.
For these dogs who has to endure these hellish training repeated every day, each day was a suffering itself.
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After these exhausting training, water was the only thing that was given….kept in these remote dog farm where there are no people around, they have to endure these difficult time.
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Even after this harsh training the only thing available for them to eat was chicken heads.
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From birth to death, they have to live the life of anxiety …the life of hell.
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Informant: Now stop recording. You recorded enough, haven’t you? Now you need to leave.
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This was a unbelievable reality but as promised we had to turn around and come back.
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Based on current animal law, training a dog to the point of cruelty and treating the dogs medically themselves were not punishable by law in Korea.
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KAAP (Korea Association for Animal Protection) President Won-Bok Lee: Just the act of putting a leash around the dogs’ neck and training is not an animal abuse based on our current animal protection law. Therefore this action can’t be punishable based on our current law.
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In US and in European union, animal cruelty is defined as causing physical and psychological suffering to animals without a justifiable reason and causing suffering that is avoidable.
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However in our country, animal cruelty is defined as killing or injuring animals without a justifiable reason.
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KARA (Korea Animal Rights Advocates) Team Leader, Jung-Wha Yang: In other countries, when a non-edible food is given to the dogs this is subject to punishment. But in Korea, this is not punishable by law.
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Therefore, when you give injection and give medication to the dog you own, you can’t be punished.
That’s because it’s not against the law.
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For example, if you were to kill a dog and defend yourself by saying that it happened in the process of trying to treat your dog, unless it was killed by abuse defined in the current animal protection law, this action can’t be punished. This is the reality.
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In many Southeast Asian countries, cock fights are defined as animal cruelty and the banning of cock fights are enforced strictly.
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In US, with the arrest of Michael Vick for dog fighting, a movement against dog fight has been started among people around the country.
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And in Hawaii, the dog fighting law has been strengthened to punish not only those who commit dog fighting but also punish the establishment that trains these dogs for fight.
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But in our country, dog fighting is punishable by law but the enforcement is very weak.
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Therefore the voice of the people who are asking for the strengthening of related law and to improve the enforcement of the law is getting louder.
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Seoul National University Veterinary medicine professor, Hang Lee: It doesn’t make sense that this type of behavior of making dogs fight till death and getting enjoyment out of it like the Gladiators of Roman Empire is taking place in the 21st century.
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There should be a more stricter law to prevent these dog fights.
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Law enforcement should have the motivation and the dedication to make sure these law are followed and actively enforced.
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Even now somewhere out there, there must be dogs standing on the road to death and fighting the tragic fight.
Priceless lives sacrificed due to people’s selfishness.
It’s time this dangerous gambling that takes place in the scene of cruelty comes to an end.
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TV Animal Farm is committed and will do our best going forward to end the dog fight by cooperating with the related and the government organizations.
