South Korean lawmakers propose bill to ban killings of dogs

SEOUL, June 21 (UPI) -- A revised animal protection law that aims to ban killings of dogs has been proposed by lawmakers in Seoul.

The proposed legislation seeks to prohibit unlawful killings of animals such as dogs and cats that are not categorized as livestock.

It also mandates people in slaughtering businesses to prepare measures to minimize sufferings of animals in a killing.

The current law doesn't force suffering prevention, but says slaughtering should not cause fear or stress to animals.

"This proposed bill aims to ban arbitrary killings of animals and stop any gruesome acts of killing. It will give lawful protection to animals and ban any killings of animals that fall into the gray area of the current animal protection law," Pyo Chang-won of the Democratic Party of Korea said in a statement.

Across the country, dogs are raised and slaughtered for the dog meat trade, but are not regulated by the sanitary processing of livestock act, said Lee So-young, Pyo's secretary officer.

Eating dog meat has been practiced for many years here. However, it has met criticisms for the horrific conditions and ways in which dogs are raised, treated and later killed for the dog meat trade.

"As dogs fall into the gray area in the law, there are still many cases in which dogs are slaughtered cruelly in unreported places," Lee So-young, secretary of lawmaker Pyo Chang-Won of the Democratic Party of Korea, told UPI.

"This revised law responds to the growing interest in animal protection and the need for legislation that would offer practical measures to prevent animal abuse and illegal killings," said Lee.