Trying to explain to people that there is no difference between killing this animal or that, for food or for “sport,” can sometimes be excruciatingly frustrating.

Who deserves the priority of living – cows, dogs, coyotes?  Well, we have to kill the cows because steak tastes good, and we have to kill the coyotes so they don’t kill the cows; but we certainly can’t kill dogs!  If they have their own department store for food, fun, and fashion, we certainly can’t kill them.

Lee Won-bok understands the challenges of changing peoples minds.  We meet Lee Won-bok in a LA Times article.  He is a 45-year old animal rights activist who stages graphic photo displays to protest the use of dogs for food.  The images show dogs kept in cages, hanged and butchered, and the meat that is prepared for market.  Won-bok knows the images are hard to look at, and that is precisely his point.  He wants to show the “harsh treatment of an animal that many South Koreans now view as companions, not cuisine.”

Koreans have eaten dogs for centuries and, for years foreign advocates have protested the practice.  But the Koreans dismissed these protests as “unwanted opinions of outsiders.”  Now that the country has adopted more of the Western culture, there are more “pet” owners than ever.  And Won-bok wants people to know what is going on with the dogs.

“People don’t comprehend the suffering these dogs endure…they may vaguely realize that people still eat dogs. But they need to know what happens to the animals.”

And, he remains optimistic saying, “South Koreans (are starting to) question their cultural traditions.”  But not all South Koreans.

The cuisine remains popular among some government officials.  Cham Lee, known to enjoy dog dishes, is director of the Korean Tourism Organization.  Ironically, he also raises Korean Jindo dogs as companion animals.  Lee even had a private wine and dog-tasting seminar, deciding that dog goes best with a light Shiraz or Riesling.  Lee was criticized for the tasting.

Lee had this to say, “Parisians can eat horse meat because France is considered high culture.  But South Korea gets no such pass.  Westerners eat one type of animal and tell the world they can’t eat another.  I say, if you eat animals, you eat animals.”

And, I’d have to agree with him on that one point (and one point only).  If you eat animals, you eat animals – it doesn’t matter which species you choose.  We must stop placing animals into moral categories and making excuses for the human palate.  All sentient life deserves better.

Won-bok has pledged to campaign for the dogs, exposing the cruel conditions the dogs endure, until dog-eating ends in his country.

via latimes.com