Blog

Campaign updated on 3/7/2023.

Santa Clara Mayor Lisa M. Gillmor: Tell your Friendship City, Icheon, South Korea, that you oppose the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.

If you want to help fight the grisly South Korean dog and cat meat trade and make a difference in South Korea, here are a few quick actions you can take that could save millions of dogs and cats each year.

Icheon became a Friendship City with Santa Clara, California, in 2019.

In Icheon, there are numerous dog farms, slaughterhouses, markets, and restaurants where the dogs, who have been tortured their entire lives, end up being slaughtered in the most inhumane ways, such as by electrocution, hanging, or beating, and then thrown into boiling water – sometimes while they are still alive. In many places, dogs are being killed in full view of other terrified, caged dogs; and this takes place in broad daylight. In addition, many abandoned and stolen former pets end up in this industry and are subject to the same cruelty.

Video: Dogs who suffered their entire lives are electric tortured and killed in cages—South Korea’s horrific dog meat industry. jtbc News.[추적보도 훅] 철창 갇힌 채 감전사…’먹히기 위해’ 죽어가는 개들 / JTBC 뉴스룸

A Search Engine reveals the sickening scale of Icheon’s dog meat demand.

Two searches on Naver (the most popular search engine in Korea) – one was for so-called “Health Centers,” which commonly sell dog elixirs and cat elixirs (also known as dog soju and cat soju), and the second one was for “dog meat restaurants” – resulted in dozens of Health Centers and dog meat restaurants in Icheon.

Even if half of these ‘Health’ Centers and restaurants serve dog and cat ‘ingredients’ in one form or another, imagine how many dog/cat slaughterhouses must be in the vicinity of Icheon to supply these outlets.

There are laws in South Korea against selling dogs and cats for consumption, yet these laws are blatantly ignored.

Call for Action

• 📧 Send emails to the Santa Clara mayor and the Santa Clara City Council members.

  [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];

  Send the CC (Carbon Copy) email to the Icheon City Council, Gyeonggi-do Assembly, and the South Korean National Assembly members:

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• 📬 Send letters (Use the below-suggested message or petition):

  Mayor Lisa M. Gillmor
  City Hall
  1500 Warburton Avenue
  Santa Clara, CA 95050
  USA

  Santa Clara City Council
  City Hall
  1500 Warburton Avenue
  Santa Clara, CA 95050
  USA

  📬 Send a copy of your letter to Icheon:
  Mayor Kim Gyeong-hee
  City of Icheon
  40 Buak-ro, Icheon, Gyeonggi-do
  Postal Code 17379
  South Korea

  Icheon City Council
  40 Buak-ro, Icheon, Gyeonggi-do
  Postal Code 17379
  South Korea

  📬 Icheon addresses in Korean:
  김경희 시장님
  이천시청
  [17379] 경기도 이천시 부악로 40
  South Korea

  이천시의회
  [17379] 경기도 이천시 부악로 40
  South Korea

📝 Suggested message

Santa Clara Mayor Lisa M. Gillmor: Please tell your Friendship City, Icheon, South Korea, that you oppose the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.

Dear Mayor Lisa M. Gillmor and Santa Clara City Council members:

As mayor and representatives of Santa Clara, we ask you to reconsider your “friendship” with Icheon, a city that permits dogs and cats to be horribly abused and brutally killed for food.

While graphic, these undercover videos depicting South Korea’s dog meat industry are important to watch:
Part 1 of 2: https://youtu.be/_ZVQjgGb4RQ
Part 2 of 2: https://vimeo.com/754160791
Dogs who suffered their entire lives are electric tortured and killed in cages—South Korea’s horrific dog meat industry. https://koreandogs.org/jtbc-news-electric-tortured-in-cages/
Cruel Death of South Korea’s Dogs. Dogs Are Innocent.: https://koreandogs.org/documentary-koreas-dog-cruelty/

Icheon is one of the largest dog meat suppliers and consumption cities in South Korea. There are numerous dog farms and dog slaughterhouses in Icheon. Korean web searches of Icheon turn up dozens of dog meat restaurants and so-called “Health Centers” that commonly serve soup made of dog meat as phony elixirs (also known as dog soju).

Dogs suffer their entire lives in filthy, feces-encrusted raised wire cages in dire misery only to be slaughtered in the most horrific of ways— tortured by electrocution, hammer strikes to their head, hanging, being beaten to death, having their throats slit, being burned alive with a blowtorch or thrown into a vat of boiling water while still alive. In many places in Icheon, dogs are killed in full view of other caged dogs who tremble with terror. In addition, beloved pets are often stolen and sold to these slaughterhouses, where they meet the same horrific fate. Puppies who die of disease are tossed away like trash, often left in front of cages to rot while their mothers watch and cry out in despair.

Mayor Christopher Chung of Palisades Park, NJ, has already shown his rejection of the dog meat trade in no uncertain terms. As reported in the Korea Times, he recently rejected a visit from exchange students from the friendship city Incheon Ganghwa County due to their dog meat trade. In California, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting legislation or administrative action that would request the governments of South Korea, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia ban the sale of dog meat and enforce their animal protection laws.

On behalf of companion animal-loving Americans and people worldwide, we ask that you follow these bold leads by not remaining silent in the face of such abhorrent cruelty. Please urge Icheon Mayor Kim Gyeong-hee to shut down all Icheon dog farms, slaughterhouses, markets, dog meat restaurants, and truckers transporting dogs to their inevitable fates. An online petition calling for your support in ending such horrors perpetrated in Icheon is in progress: https://chng.it/9qVzqbkJ .

Thank you for your serious consideration. We eagerly await your reply.

Sincerely,

[Your name, city, country]

• ☎️ Call the Santa Clara Mayor’s office: Telephone: (408) 615-2250, Fax (408) 241-6771
Suggested phone message

Hello, I’m calling to speak to someone in the Mayor’s Office to ask for their help on an important issue regarding your Friendship City, Icheon, in South Korea.

If I could explain: Dog-meat consumption is currently being practiced in that city, even though it is illegal under South Korean Law – but the laws are not enforced. The dog and cat meat trades involve extreme and widespread animal cruelty, and the animals suffer unimaginable pain and distress. They cannot speak for themselves, so I am calling on their behalf. And, I believe that your city would wish to be made aware of this issue, as you would not want to affiliate with a city where illegal and immoral torture is being carried out on any animal, and particularly not on ones that are loyal, trusting creatures, which look up to us humans as their guardians.

This illegal industry is being allowed to continue by Icheon authorities – even though there is growing opposition from pet owners across South Korea and worldwide.

So, I am asking you to please speak with your counterparts in Icheon to urge them to enforce their laws, not ignore them, show compassion to their companion animals, and respect their citizens by bringing this cruel industry to an end.

I know South Korea has many beautiful, admirable, and noble practices and customs worth preserving, but this is not one of them.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

• Send a Twitter message!
  .@2000happy .@ggholic .@dy_future #Gyeonggido #Gyeonggi .@SantaClaraCity #SantaClara Tell Friendship City #Icheon #SouthKorea that you oppose torture/consumption of #dogs #cats 🐾 https://youtu.be/_ZVQjgGb4RQ😢https://vimeo.com/754160791 😭https://chng.it/9qVzqbkJ https://koreandogs.org/Friendship-city-Icheon-santa-clara/

No matter where you live, PLEASE SHARE these actions with your friends, especially those who live in Santa Clara! 🙏