27 Dogs Were Flown to the US After Being Rescued From a South Korean Dog Meat Farm

Last month, the People Power Party of South Korea introduced an act to end the South Korean dog meat trade. It’s great news, but it comes with the caveat that the industry won’t officially shut down until 2027. In the meantime, many dogs are still suffering on large-scale breeding farms. Humane Society International (HSI) recently rescued 200 such dogs, and 27 of them were healthy enough to be flown to the United States, where they’ll soon be available for adoption.

The HSI’s Models for Change program was created in 2015 to work with dog farmers in South Korea and transition their operations to “more humane and profitable livelihoods, such as chili plant and parsley growing or water truck delivery.” More than 2,700 dogs have been saved, thanks to Models for Change. In this most recent rescue, HSI worked with a farmer who aims to convert his land to a vegetable farm. 

“The dog meat farm where these 27 pups came from was a hellish scene. Some 200 dogs were locked in barren, metal cages in squalid conditions thick with feces, many suffering from malnutrition as well as painful skin and eye diseases,” Sangkyung Lee, Humane Society International/Korea’s End Dog Meat campaign manager, said in a press release. “Thankfully, most of these 27 dogs were too young to remember the trauma of the farm, and it makes me so happy to know that they will soon be embraced with new names and cherished as loved family members.”

After being removed from the farm, the dogs were evaluated by a veterinarian and given a number of vaccinations to ensure they could be safely transported to the U.S. They were also given some seriously adorable names — Raspberry, Trudy, and Roxy, to name a few. 

The dogs are between the ages of 10 months and three years old, and they’re currently being evaluated at HSI’s care and rehabilitation center, where they are “receiving the love and comfort the dog meat industry denied them, including soft beds, nutritious food, toys and enrichment, veterinary care and rehabilitation,” per the press release.

After their rehabilitation, they will be sent to shelters and rescues in order to find forever homes. If you would like to support organizations rescuing dogs from the dog meat trade or adopt a dog who has been rescued from the dog meat trade, you can find more information here.