A Plea for Compassion: Protect Chained Dogs from Burning Alive in South Korean Wildfires (Friendship City: Gumi & Houston, Texas)

posted by KoreanDogs.org team on July 29,2025 in Action Alert, Break the Chains, Forest fire, Friendship City, Uncategorized

Photos: Charles, a dog who miraculously escaped a wildfire after being severely burned across his entire body, including inside his mouth, is now receiving intensive care and showing remarkable resilience despite his horrific injuries. Tragically, Charles witnessed his friend, tied next to him, burn to death. https://koreandogs.org/charles/

Despite the 2023 revision of South Korea’s Animal Protection Act—which set a two-meter minimum tether length—lifelong tethering remains legal, widespread, and profoundly inhumane. A two-meter chain offers no real freedom or dignity. Across the country, dogs endure short chains, filth, harsh weather, and utter neglect. Treated as tools or property, their suffering is normalized, hidden, and ignored.

The devastating wildfires of March 2025 once again exposed the full horror of this systemic neglect. Countless dogs, permanently chained or caged, were abandoned during evacuations—left to burn alive in agony. This was not just a failure of disaster response—it was a moral and ethical failure of society as a whole.

In response, South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) issued the “Manual for the Rescue and Protection of Companion Animals During Natural Disasters” in May 2025. We recognize and commend this step as an important milestone: the manual acknowledges companion animals as family members, outlines roles for government agencies, and promotes local emergency planning and public awareness. However, the manual is non-binding. It does not mandate the evacuation of animals, nor does it address or prohibit the practice of lifelong tethering.

Even more alarmingly, countless dogs are kept in isolation—chained at fields, orchards, factories, or warehouses, far from human care. Labeled as tools, not pets, they are denied legal protection and left exposed to extreme weather and deadly disasters, unable to escape. This is not mere neglect—it’s institutionalized cruelty. If people won’t protect them, the law must.

As KoreanDogs.org and many allied organizations have emphasized, true protection requires more than suggestions. Real change requires legally enforceable action and accountability.

We therefore call on the South Korean government to enact urgent and meaningful reforms:

• Ban lifelong tethering nationwide. This cruel and outdated practice causes ongoing physical and psychological suffering and must end.
• Ban the remote, solitary confinement of dogs—isolated from human residences, care, and companionship. No dog should be forced to live out its life alone and unprotected, treated as a disposable tool.
• Mandate companion animal evacuation by law during all declared emergencies. No animal should ever be left behind to burn, drown, starve, or freeze.
• Prosecute abandonment and cruelty with severe, consistent penalties, especially during disasters when the consequences are often fatal.
• Require local governments to develop and implement enforceable animal disaster plans, with oversight and accountability.

We also urge Sister and Friendship Cities around the world to take a principled stand. These partnerships must not overlook the suffering and destruction caused by inadequate animal protection laws in South Korea. We ask global partners to raise their voices: urge your counterparts in South Korea to legislate lasting reforms, including a ban on tethering, isolated keeping, and mandatory evacuation protocols for all companion animals.

This is a pivotal moment. The world is watching. South Korea can choose compassion and leadership, or remain complicit in avoidable cruelty.
Let us demand change—together.

In a devastating display of cruelty during the South Korean wildfire, tethered and abandoned dogs perished. This tragedy underscores the urgent need for a fundamental shift towards compassion within South Korean society. CARE.

✍🏼 Sign the Petition

Call for Action

👉 📧 Email the Mayor and City Council of Houston, the Gumi City Council, the Gyeongsangbuk-do Provincial Council, and the South Korean National Assembly.

💡 Don’t use your personal email. Use a separate account dedicated to protest emails instead. Learn more HERE.

👉 📬 Mail the letter.

Mayor’s Office
City of Houston
P.O. Box 1562
Houston, TX 77251
USA

Houston City Council
City Hall
901 Bagby, Second Floor
Houston, TX 77002
USA

📬 Send a copy of your letter to Gumi:

Mayor Kim Jang-ho
City of Gumi
(39281) 55, Songjeong-daero, Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do
South Korea

Gumi City Council
(39281) 55, Songjeong-daero, Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do
South Korea

📬 Gumi addresses in Korean:

Mayor Kim Jang-ho
김장호 구미 시장님
구미시청
(우)39281 경북 구미시 송정대로 55
South Korea

Gumi City Council
구미시의회
(39281) 경상북도 구미시 송정대로 55
South Korea

📝 Suggested message

Urgent Appeal to Houston: Help End Tethering and Remote Confinement of Dogs in Friendship City Gumi, South Korea

Dear Mayor John Whitmire and Esteemed Representatives of Houston,

I write with deep urgency and a heartfelt plea for leadership and compassion. In Gumi, South Korea—your Friendship City—countless dogs are suffering in silence under conditions that shock the conscience.

Across South Korea, countless dogs—often called “field dogs”—are chained alone in remote fields, orchards, warehouses, and even fish farms at sea. Meant to “guard” property, they are powerless to protect anything—not even themselves. Tethered for life with no shelter or care, they endure extreme heat, bitter cold, hunger, and fear. When disasters strike, they are left to die horrific deaths, unable to flee. This is not tradition—it’s cruelty, passed down and accepted for too long.

Even now, these dogs are not seen as living beings in need of care, but as disposable property. This isn’t just neglect—it’s institutionalized cruelty, hidden in legal loopholes that allow owners to exclude dogs from protection simply by claiming they aren’t pets.

Although South Korea recently issued a Manual for the Rescue and Protection of Companion Animals During Natural Disasters (May 2025), it carries no legal force. Lifelong tethering remains legal, and no enforceable laws guarantee animals will be evacuated or protected in emergencies.

This is a moral crisis—and it is unfolding in your Friendship City.

We are joining a growing national campaign urging the South Korean government to ban the remote confinement and tethering of dogs. It’s time to end the abandonment of animals in places far from human care. If people cannot be their guardians, then the law must become their protector.

As a global city with deep ties to Gumi, Houston has a rare and powerful opportunity to make a difference. I respectfully urge you to:

1. Publicly denounce the cruelty of lifelong tethering and the abandonment of animals during disasters. Silence allows this systemic suffering to continue.

2. Contact your counterparts in Gumi and urge them to support national legislation that bans remote confinement of dogs and mandates animal evacuation protocols.

3. Advocate for comprehensive reforms in South Korea, including:

A complete ban on lifelong tethering and remote confinement of dogs
Legally binding evacuation measures for animals during emergencies
Real penalties for abandonment and neglect
Public education campaigns to promote empathy and responsible care

4. Extend Houston’s hand in partnership—offering support through humane disaster planning, policy exchange, or public messaging that redefines what international friendship can mean.

Please, take a moment to see the faces behind this tragedy (warning: deeply disturbing content):

Change is possible. South Korea has taken an important first step, but only bold legal reform can end the worst of the suffering. Strong legislation can save countless lives and send a powerful message of compassion to the world.

As leaders of Gumi’s Friendship City, your voice matters. Please use it to speak for those who cannot plead for themselves. A global petition is growing: https://chng.it/MXKC6gSSbg. Let this be the moment international friendship becomes a force for change—not just for human lives, but for the loyal, loving animals who suffer invisibly, chained in silence.

With deep respect, urgency, and hope for your leadership,

[Your name, city, country]

👉 Post on X and Bluesky.

.@Jaemyung_Lee Urgent Appeal to #Houston: Help End Tethering and Remote Confinement of Dogs in #FriendshipCity #Gumi #SouthKorea #Wildfires #BanDogTethering #AnimalWelfareKorea ✍️chng.it/MXKC6gSSbg✊koreandogs.org/a-plea-for-compassion-Gumi-Houston/✊koreandogs.org/a-plea-for-compassion-sister-city-us/ 👉🏽facebook.com/BanTether/

👉 Join the effort! Click HERE and HERE for more ways you can help.

Video: Photo: Left chained to farm equipment as a wildfire engulfed her village in South Korea, Bbibbi, a year-old puppy, was found barely alive with severe burns after her owner abandoned her, highlighting a critical lack of empathy and inadequate animal protection laws. 💔 Chained in the Fire, Left to Burn Alive: Bbibbi’s Will to Survive 🐾

Video: Daan spent three agonizing years tied to a tree, enduring harsh weather, malnutrition, and blindness with no love or shelter, until he was finally rescued—too late to regain his health but given a chance to experience kindness. Despite medical care and a brief time in a safe space, he passed away, leaving behind a heartbreaking reminder of the cruelty animals endure and a plea for compassion toward all sentient beings. To learn more, click 👉 HERE, HERE, HERE.