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[Update: September 12, 2017]Gunpo hears us: Mayor Kim sends response

We received a response from the Mayor of Gunpo, resulting from one of our campaigns urging their Sister City, Belleville, Ontario, Canada to speak out against the illegal dog and cat meat industries in Gunpo. We currently have two other active Sister City campaigns against Gunpo– Clarksville, Tennessee, Grant County, Washington.
We very much appreciate Mayor Yoon-Joo Kim responding to us and what he says in his letter sounds very genuine. Click HERE to learn more.

Belleville, Ontario: Tell Sister City, Gunpo, 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.

Gunpo became Sister city with Belleville in 1997.

In Gunpo, there are countless dog 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 in broad daylight. In addition, many abandoned and stolen former pets end up in this industry and are subject to the same cruelty.

A Search Engine reveals the sickening scale of Gunpo’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 Food 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 90 Health Food Centers; and 41 restaurants in the vicinity of Gunpo.

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

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

https://koreandogs.org/meat-dogs-in-wire-cages-feed-on-rotten-food-waste-slops/

Call for Action

• Send Email:
  [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
• Send letter (Use the below-suggested message or petition):Mayor’s Office
  City Hall
  169 Front Street
  Belleville, Ontario K8N 2Y8
  Canada

  Send a copy of your letter to Gunpo Mayor Yoon-Joo Kim:
  Mayor Yoon-Joo Kim
  Gunpo City Hall
  6 Cheongbaengni-gil, Gunpo, Gyeonggi-do
  Postal Code 15829
  South Korea

  Address in Korean:
  김윤주 군포시장님
  군포시청
  (15829) 경기도 군포시 청백리길 6
  South Korea

• Send a message through Facebook page:
  Belleville
  Gunpo
  Gunpo Mayor Yoon-Joo Kim

  Suggested email/letter/Facebook message

  Dear Mayor Christopher and the City Council members,

  We ask you to please watch the videos of South Korea’s dog meat industry: https://youtu.be/_ZVQjgGb4RQ
  https://koreandogs.org/horrible-reality-of-meat-dog-farms-you-did-not-know/
  https://koreandogs.org/dmp/
  https://koreandogs.org/companion-animals-for-consumption/.

  Do you think that Belleville should be a Sister city to any city that allows dogs and cats to be tortured and eaten? Please urge Gunpo Mayor Yoon-Joo Kim to close down all those illegal dog farms and slaughterhouses, markets, truckers, and restaurants that serve these animal products. An online petition calling for your support in ending the horrendous South Korean dog and cat meat cruelty is in progress: https://www.change.org/p/mayor-taso-a-christopher-of-belleville-ontario-tell-sister-city-gunpo-korea-that-we-re-opposed-to-the-torture-and-consumption-of-dogs
  The favor of your reply is requested.
  Thank you,

  [Your Name & City/Country]

• Call the Mayor’s Office: Telephone: 613-967-3267
  Fax: 613-967-3209

  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 sister city, Gunpo 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 which is why 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 Gunpo to urge them to enforce their own laws, not ignore them, and to show compassion to their companion animals, and also respect to their own citizens, by bringing these trades to an end.

  With the Winter Olympics coming up in 2018, this is the time to make change; this is the time to stop the illegal, inhumane and unnecessary cruelty. I know that 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

  .@gunpocity .@read20147 .@npil2580 .@BellevilleON .@TweetofTaso Plz Urge Sister City, Gunpo-Stop torture/eating dogs https://goo.gl/UZiuZG

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