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Campaign updated on 3/16/2023.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens: Tell Sister City, Daegu, 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.

Daegu became a Sister city to Atlanta in 1981.

In Daegu, 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 public and broad daylight. In addition, many abandoned and stolen former pets end up in this industry and are subject to the same cruelty. If you have ever wondered what the hell would be like, click HERE and HERE to learn more about Daegu’s dog meat industry.

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

Shown below are two search results on Naver (the most popular search engine in Korea) – the first 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.”

The searches resulted in dozens of Health Centers and dog meat restaurants in the vicinity of Daegu. 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 Daegu to supply these outlets.

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

Video: Will the Daegu Chilseong Dog Meat Market close down? Conflicts continue… Daegu MBC News, June 16, 2021.

Video: Daegu Chilseong Dog Meat Market.

Call for Action

• Send an email to the Atlanta Mayor and City Council members.

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  Send the CC (Carbon Copy) email to the Daegu City Council and the South Korean National Assembly members.

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• 📬 Send letter. (Use the below-suggested message or petition)

  Mayor Andre Dickens
  Atlanta City Hall Annex
  55 Trinity Avenue SW
  Atlanta, GA 30303
  USA

  📬 Send a copy of your letter to Daegu:

  Mayor Hong Jun-pyo
  Daegu Metropolitan Government
  88 Gongpyeong-ro(Dongindong 1-ga), Jung-gu, Daegu, Gyeongsangbukdo-do, Postal Code 41911
  South Korea

  📬 Daegu’s address in Korean:

  대구광역시
  홍준표 시장님
  (41911) 대구광역시 중구 공평로 88
  South Korea

• Send a message through Facebook page.

  Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens
  Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo
  Daegu

  📝 Suggested message

  Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens: Tell Sister City, Daegu, South Korea, that you oppose the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.

  Dear Mayor Andre Dickens and the Atlanta City Council members,

  As mayor and representatives of Atlanta, we ask you to reconsider your “friendship” with Daegu, 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/
  Protest at the Daegu City Hall: https://www.facebook.com/karakoreaanimalrights/posts/3882729988420356
  https://www.facebook.com/karakoreaanimalrights/posts/3877022128991142
  Daegu’s gruesome dog slaughterhouses: https://youtu.be/qdSnXw1sukQ

  Touted as a so-called cosmopolitan city, Daegu is one of the largest dog meat suppliers and consumption cities in South Korea. There are numerous dog farms and dog slaughterhouses in the vicinity of Daegu. Chilseong Market is the largest dog meat market in South Korea, where the live dogs in wire cages are slaughtered while the customers wait. Korean web searches of Daegu 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 Daegu, 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 its 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 Daegu Mayor Hong Jun-pyo to shut down all Daegu-supplying 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 Daegu is in progress: https://chng.it/LrpMNnGL.

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

  Sincerely,

  [Your name, city, country]

• ☎️ Call the Mayor’s Office.
  Phone: (404)330-6100

  ☎️ Sample 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 sister city, Daegu, in South Korea.

  If I could explain, dog-meat consumption is currently 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 be affiliated 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.

  These illegal trades are being allowed to continue by Korean authorities – even though there is growing opposition from pet owners across South Korea and throughout the world.

  So, I am asking you to please speak with your counterparts in Daegu to urge them to enforce their laws, not ignore them, and to show compassion to their companion animals and respect for their citizens by bringing these trades 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!

  Suggested Twitter text

  .@colorfuldg .@CityofAtlanta #Atlanta #MayorAndreDickens, Tell #SisterCity #Daegu #SouthKorea, that you oppose the torture and consumption of #dogs #cats ✍🏼https://koreandogs.org/sister-city-daegu-Atlanta/ 🐾https://chng.it/LrpMNnGL #Daegu #Atlanta #DogMeat #Korea

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

South Korean Dog Meat Industry – Brutal killing in Daegu, Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE).

“Meat dogs” in wire cages feed on rotten food waste slops while they wait to be slaughtered.

Click HERE for the Previous campaign.