English Caption for “Eating Former Pets – S. Korea’s Dog and Cat Meat Industry (Part 2 of 2)”: http://youtu.be/bLGlP5h66mI
0:00:00.000,0:00:08.000
These dinners think they are only eating dogs raised for meat, not former pets that were once in family homes.
0:00:09.000,0:00:12.000
Man in black shirt: I eat a lot of dog meat but never get tired of it.
0:00:13.000,0:00:25.000
Man in striped shirt: Dog meat doesn’t come from pure-bred pet dogs. We mostly eat mutts, you know, like “dung-dogs”
Interviewer: So are people only eating dogs raised for meat?
Man interviewed: Of course, we only eat those kinds of dogs.
0:00:26.000,0:00:36.000
Are people really only eating dogs raised for meat? We heard a shocking story from a former dog trader that says otherwise.
0:00:37.000,0:00:55.000
Former dog trader: If you slaughter and process a dog, you can’t tell if it was a pure-bred pet or a meat dog.
In “gae soju” (dog elixir) places, several small pet dogs are simply used in place of one large meat dog.
0:00:56.000,0:01:09.000
Larger pure-breeds such as Cocker Spaniels, Schnauzers, and Shi h Tzu are all used for meat. Large numbers of former pet dogs end up in the meat markets, and even sick ones are eaten.
0:01:10.000,0:01:26.000
The ones that end up in the meat market are often those that were abandoned or sick with
skin or respiratory ailments.
Usually the owner doesn’t want to spend the money to treat them.
0:01:27.000,0:01:34.000
The following video was recorded by the former dog trader. It contains some graphic content.
0:01:35.000,0:01:45.000
A dog farm in Gyeonggido province. Here we can see not only large dogs raised for meat but small ones that look like purebreeds.
0:01:47.000,0:01:51.000
This man is seen dragging a dog somewhere.
0:01:53.000,0:02:03.000
We catch up to him and discover he is hanging a dog with a rope around his neck.
Dog killer: He looks like his meat is going to be good.
0:02:04.000,0:02:16.000
The dog hanging is a Schnauzer, a common pet dog. He is trying to breath and with all of his strength is desparately gasping for air
0:02:17.000,0:02:27.000
He seems to be suffering tremendously and continues to struggle to stay alive.
0:02:28.000,0:02:35.000
The dog farmer gives him a crushing blow to the head with a wooden stick.
0:02:36.000,0:02:44.000
He throws the dead dog down.
0:02:45.000,0:02:52.000
Then he burns the dog’s hair off with a blowtorch.
0:02:53.000,0:03:00.000
This former pet dog that was once in a human home is turned into a meat.
0:03:01.000,0:03:09.000
This is a dog Slaughterhouse. Here we see more footage of pet-dog slaughtering.
0:03:10.000,0:03:19.000
Inside the slaughterhouse, people are in the middle of processing a freshly killed pet dog. Nearby is another pet dog that was just slaughtered.
0:03:21.000,0:03:29.000
The dog is put into a big pot of boiling water. This makes it easier to remove the dog’s hair.
0:03:30.000,0:03:40.000
Next, the dog is put into a hair removing machine that spins around and stips the hair.
Black hair along with water comes out.
0:03:41.000,0:03:51.000
Even though the hair is all gone, the dog is still burned with a blowtorch. The man says this
is because people prefer meat with slightly burned smell.
0:03:52.000,0:04:02.000
On the cement floor, he butchers the dog.
0:04:03.000,0:04:08.000
Man 1: Looks tasty. It’s good quality meat, right?
Man 2: It looks good.
0:04:09.000,0:04:22.000
Former dog trader: Pet dogs are cheaper. They are sold per dog and not by weight at a discount.
They use them as meat because they are cheap.
0:04:23.000,0:04:034.000
Interviewer: But it’s against one’s moral conscience …
Former dog trader: In order to be in this trade, you can’t have a conscience. If you have a conscience, you can’t be a dog trader.
0:04:35.000,0:04:043.000
Moran Market in Seongnam-city. The informer said pet dogs were being used as meat but maybe it is not very common.
0:04:44.000,0:04:53.000
We visited a place known to be the largest distributor of dog meat.
The merchant shows the dog to be slaughtered to a customer.
0:04:54.000,0:05:01.000
In this place, dogs are slaughtered on the spot. The dog that was slaughtered just moments ago is put on display right next to the live dogs in the cage.
0:05:02.000,0:05:09.000
We see mostly large meat dogs. So we investigate further.
0:05:10.000,0:05:16.000
These look like meat dogs and not pet dogs.
0:05:18.000,0:05:24.000
The dog meat being cut up on the cutting board looks like it came from a large dog.
0:05:25.000,0:05:31.000
The cuts of dog meat in the refrigerator all seem to have come from a large dog.
0:05:32.000,0:05:36.000
Merchant: Stomach and hind leg. This is a quarter of a dog.
0:05:38.000,0:05:45.000
Investigator: Do you have any pet dogs?
Merchant: No. We don’t. As you can see there are no small dogs here.
0:05:46.000,0:05:53.000
Merchants deny that they distribute pet dogs as meat. However, the way they handle regular dogs is too rough and cruel.
0:05:54.000,0:06:02.000
Stuffing many dogs into small cage is known as “gae duk (meaning “dogcake”)” and you can see these gae duks everywhere.
0:06:03.000,0:06:10.000
They even kill the dogs right in front of customers with electrocution rods.
0:06:11.000,0:06:18.000
It’s as if this shop’s is advertising it’s specialty, allowing people to see dogs killed.
0:06:19.000,0:06:25.000
We continued to look around the market to see if there are any pet dogs.
0:06:26.000,0:06:33.000
We found a foreign breed dog in one of the cages. It’s a beagle that is normally a pet dog.
0:06:34.000,0:06:43.000
Investigator: Is that beagle for meat?
Merchant: No. There is no place to put him so I keep him in the cage. That dog is a pet, so it’s not for meat.
0:06:44.000,0:06:51.000
Because we show interest in the beagle, the merchant moves it somewhere out of sight.
0:06:52.000,0:06:59.000
However, he tells another story to someone else.
Merchant: Buy this dog! If you don’t buy now, it will end up in a refrigerator the day after tomorrow.
0:07:00.000,0:07:10.000
Suspecting that pet dogs are being sold as meat, we went around to the rear alley where the general public usually doesn’t go.
0:07:11.000,0:07:22.000
We found dog slaughterhouses located closed together here. Dogs in the cages seem to be all large meat dogs.
0:07:23.000,0:07:32.000
But when we went further into the alley, we saw small dogs that look like pets in the cages.
0:07:33.000,0:07:40.000
A man is taking a Shih Tzu somewhere as it hangs by its neck.
0:07:41.000,0:07:49.000
We follow him to a slaughter room. To prevent the dog from moving, the rope is pulled around an iron pin.
0:07:50.000,0:07:56.000
As the dog senses danger, he struggles to get free.
0:07:57.000,0:08:03.000
The dog is killed with electrocution.
0:08:05.000,0:08:12.000
Just as the informant said, the former pets are being distributed as meat in this market.
0:08:13.000,0:08:19.000
Are there problems with processing these dogs? We observed the butchering process at one slaughterhouse.
0:08:20.000,0:08:30.000
First, a cut is made up the dog’s front. And then the man put his hand into the dog’s stomach and took out the organs and intestines.
0:08:31.000,0:08:40.000
After that, he attaches a nozzle to a hose.
0:08:41.000,0:08:48.000
Then he grabs the knife again and carefully cuts a certain part of the dog.
0:08:49.000,0:08:55.000
And he attaches the hose and starts pumping the dog full of water.
0:08:56.000,0:09:02.000
For about 10 minutes he leaves the hose running there.
0:09:03.000,0:09:10.000
After doing that, the dog is much more swollen than before. See the before (top) and after (bottom).
0:09:11.000,0:09:20.000
The weight of the dog is significantly increased by filling its body with water.
After water has been absorbed into the flesh, the dismembering process starts.
0:09:21.000,0:09:30.000
After that, the dog is put into a black plastic bag and then into a car. We decided to follow the car.
0:09:31.000,0:09:37.000
The car arrives at a local dog meat restaurant.
0:09:38.000,0:09:44.000
As we enter the restaurant, we can see the black plastic bag that was just dropped off.
0:09:45.000,0:09:52.000
However, the restaurant owner had no idea the dog meat had been filled with water.
0:09:53.000,0:10:01.000
Investigator: I’ve heard that dog meat gets filled up with water.
Restaurant owner: I’d get into big trouble if I were to sell that kind of meat. I have been in this business for 30 years.
0:10:07.000,0:10:10.000
A few days later on a market day, we revisited the market.
0:10:09.000,0:10:16.000
There is a section of the market that is supposed to be for pet dogs.
0:10:17.000,0:10:23.000
We were curious, so we asked a merchant if he can slaughter one of these pet dogs for us.
0:10:24.000,0:10:30.000
Investigator: Can you sell these dogs as meat?
Merchant: Are you two together?
Investigator: Yes. We are together.
0:10:31.000,0:10:37.000
Merchant: You can slaughter one Balbari (type of pet dog in Korea). To feed how many?
Investigator: About 4.
Merchant: It’s quite enough for 4 people. It weighs at least 7 geun (Korean metric for weight).
0:10:38.000,0:10:47.000
Merchant: It only costs 5,000 won (approx 4.50 USD) to slaughter this dog.
Investigator: So there is a place that will slaughter this dog for us?
Merchant: Yes. You would have to pay 30,000 won if you went to a country market.
0:10:48.000,0:10:56.000
Investigator: For the dog and for slaughter service combined?
Merchant: It’s only 25,000 Won here.
Investigator: Let me look around some more.
0:10:57.000,0:11:04.000
Merchant: This is the best you will find … very heavy too. There is no one who will give you better deal.
0:11:05.000,0:11:11.000
Shockingly, even the pet dog merchants were selling pet dogs as meat.
0:11:12.000,0:11:18.000
Merchant: For 3 dogs, 45,000 Won.
Investigator: How much do they weigh?
0:11:19.000,0:11:27.000
Merchant: About 13-14 geun. This one is 55,000 won. We will slaughtered them into meat … make it very clean for you. It’s tasty.
0:11:28.000,0:11:32.000
This time we changed our question and asked if they had pet dog meat?
0:11:33.000,0:11:41.000
Investigator: Let’s see some Balbari.
As we did not use the word “pet dog,” the merchant takes us inside the store and shows us the small dogs that are on display.
0:11:42.000,0:11:49.000
Merchant: Here are some more.
Investigator: How much are these?
Merchant: 50,000 Won.
0:11:50.000,0:11:57.000
Investigator: How much do they weigh?
Merchant: About 10 Geun each. People who asks for pet dogs only buys these.
0:11:58.000,0:12:04.000
There are several pet dogs in a hidden area inside.
Investigator: Are those dogs the ones that are displayed here?
0:12:05.000,0:12:11.000
Merchant: No. We are going to sell those live.
(They are saying they do not slaughter pet dogs.)
0:12:12.000,0:12:19.000
It was the same story for other stores.
Undercover: Give me the smallest Balbari.
Merchant: The smallest … these two … 20,000 won each.
0:12:20.000,0:12:25.000
As if they were disgusted themselves, they were selling these dogs with their heads covered with black plastic bags.
0:12:26.000,0:12:34.000
More shockingly, they use these small pet dogs to make “dog elixir.”
Investigator: Can you make it with the small pet dogs?
Merchant: Yes. We can.
0:12:35.000,0:12:41.000
This place had small pet dogs inside the store where it’s less visible.
0:12:42.000,0:12:50.000
However, in this place too they are saying that these dogs are not for meat.
Investigator: Are those small dogs for meat?
Merchant: Someone has left them with us temporarily.
0:12:51.000,0:12:58.000
Is it true what they are saying about these small dogs not being for meat?
We decided to purchase a slaughtered dog and have it examined.
0:12:59.000,0:13:06.000
We took the dog we purchased to a pet hospital and asked the vet for an expert opinion.
0:13:07.000,0:13:15.000
Veterinarian: Big eyes and a short snout is generally characteristics of either a Shi-Tzu or Pekingese. This dog is very close to a Shi-Tzu.
0:13:16.000,0:13:30.000
Veterinarian: Long mouth, long body and long legs. So this dog could be a popular pet dog, perhaps a Maltese.
0:13:31.000,0:13:40.000
Investigator: Is there a possibility that these dogs could be regular meat dog puppies?
Veterinarian: No. There is 0% possibility that these are meat dog puppies. They were definitely pet dogs.
0:13:41.000,0:13:47.000
People have been eating dog meat as health food for a long time.
0:13:48.000,0:13:57.000
However, the inconvenient truth is that a large percentage of dogs that are killed for meat are actually former pet dogs.
0:13:58.000,0:14:09.000
Soyeon Park (activist): Consumers can believe that they eat regular dog meat, and not pet dog meat.
However, the reality is that all dogs should be treated as equal.
0:14:10.000,0:14:20.000
It is estimated that less than 10% of the dogs are taken care of until their full life expectancy.
0:14:21.000,0:14:31.000
The remaining 90% of these small pet dogs are either sold to a dog meat farm, a dog elixir maker, or to a dog slaughterer. That is the reality.
0:14:32.000,0:14:45.000
The fact is a large portion of dog meat people eat comes from former pet dogs–dogs that used to be companions and shared a human home until they were betrayed.
