I did some reading last Friday as I assembled the piece, and came across this blog entry from a former teacher in Mokpo. An excerpt:
Veterinarians unfortunately aren't always a lot of help. We've met a few Koreans who feel that being a vet is a good job and choosing it as a career should have little to do with love of animals. Our vet speaks great English, but Shannon and I have decided he really doesn't care for any animals' well-being. He often neglects to find proper treatment for Miso, and when Shannon and I find what's needed, he mentions how he knew that already, doesn't bother to look at our dog for any illnesses, and carries on his way. That kitten I mentioned earlier that died, our vet looked at him - well he didn't actually look, he just glanced - and said the cat was fine. 3 days later a more accomplished vet said the cat should have been on an IV and had a heat pad the whole time, and it died shortly after.
. . .
A teacher in town was walking to school and noticed a pile of garbage bags had something scurrying through it, and decided it was probably rats. 2 days went by of this scuttling, yet she never actually saw a rat, just movement amongst the bags. Finally curiosity got the better of her, and after 5 days, she dug through the garbage and found a puppy tied to a pole at the bottom of it. It had been there at least the 5 days she had noticed it, but the rope it was on was so short it had been stuck under the garbage pile the whole time.
She took it to the vet who asked why she saved it, as obviously someone wanted to get rid of it. He was even more surprised when she wanted to clean it up, get it healthy and take care of it. There's a strong "why bother" mentality here, with very few opportunities for disadvantaged animals to survive.
At the end of the piece I mentioned Animal Rescue Korea and the Facebook group "I adopted a homeless animal in Korea and lived to tell the tale," so check those out if you're looking for more information about responsibly adopting a pet and eventually taking it home with you.
4 comments:
Responsibility is not exactly something emphasized here- unless you get caught on tape for the netizens!
That's my vet, and the girl who found the dog in the garbage is my wife.
Man, that dog was dirty. It had been tied to the pole for God knows how long. It was surviving off of the garbage, and nothing else. The dog was seriously tied under a pile of trash.
In the end, we found the sweet pup a good home with a girl in Suncheon.
Animal Rescue Korea is currently asking for donations for summertime heartworm treatments. Usually, such treatments cost $70, but ARK has deals with certain vets who give them a break on costs, so these treatments only cost them $20.
I'm sure they would appreciate any donations you can afford.
I just adopted a dog this past weekend. My wife and I got a pedigree Pekingese from Karma animal rescue in Yangju (near Uijeongbu). He's less than a year old, is completely trained, and cost us nothing. The most interesting thing is that he has an RFID tag, meaning that I now know the name, address and phone number of the person who abandoned him.
He was abandoned by his owner in Wangsimni, and for once, the mass of paperwork that makes doing business here a nightmare served a useful purpose. The dogs at Karma are usually held for ten days before being 'disposed of', but owing to a paperwork snafu between the center and Seongdong-gu office, he ended up hanging around there for 11 weeks. The paperwork was going to come through this week, and we swooped in to save him. It feels good to give an dog a second chance like that.
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