Korean Job Discussion Forums

marcus61 · Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Location: out on a limb

Bear farming is a highly lucrative business in this country. Currenty there are 110 bear farms mainly centered around Daegu, which keep approximately 1600 moon bears (aka Asiatic black bears) in filthy, cramped and squalid conditions. The bears are milked for their bile from their gall bladders, yes, while they are still alive. This barbaric practice underscores a neanderthal mentality and is contrary to what Koreans would have the world believe regarding their leadership in areas such as IT, car production, shipping, steel manufacture and humanitarian causes. The government knows about it and condones it. You can send a message directly to the president, Roh Mu Hyun, by signing an on-line petition. Just click on the link. It will take you less than a minute of your time.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-bears-in-korea.html

Thiuda · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 1:29 am Post subject:

Better to farm them, then to hunt them to extinction in the wild. If you want to save the tiger and the rhinoceros, farm them too.

Wondering · Joined: 23 May 2007 Location: Seoul

signed. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Tony_Balony · Joined: 12 Apr 2007

Those bears are cute, I'd like to save one and have it as a pet.

Vicissitude · Joined: 27 Feb 2007 Location: Chef School

The South Korean government ignores all such pleas and petitions from waygooks. And I'm not so sure the government listens very well to Korean citizens either.

Julius · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

Bramble · Joined: 26 Jan 2007 Location: National treasures need homes

I signed the petition, but I doubt if it will really do any good. Also, the idea of paying compensation to animal abusers is morally repugnant.

Jill Robinson's organization runs a bear sanctuary in or near Hong Kong - maybe that's the best place for these bears? Couldn't the Korean groups work to get them moved there after shutting down the farms?

Thiuda · Posted: Sat Jul 28, 2007 9:23 pm Post subject:

nick_shawyer · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Location: Seoul

bears aside, from what i'vwe seen of farmed animals in korea has been pretty disappointing, i've seen cows fenced up into very small pens, which is a world away from the large open fields they roam around in back home in England and it also begs the question why is beef exactly the same price and how come US beef is half? i'm sure cows in the US live in much better conditions than the do here...Also if anyone has been to the 'traditional korean town' amusment park type place they have just outside of seoul where they film that soap opera set in the past, you can see the farm animals and they have some very unhappy looking dogs in cages probably not much bigger than 1M wide and they probably spend the majority of their life in there...

marcus61 · Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Location: out on a limb

Well, as for dog farms, see a photo I took while on a trip with the school to a farm where there were also cows penned into very small enclosures and they were encrusted with their own muck. How can the Koreans call themselves world leaders with respect to IT, car production, steel manufacture, shipping or humanitarian projects when they allow this? They cannot command respect from the rest of the world until they earn it. They are failing to recognise a great eco-tourism opportunity as well. They could very easily convert some mountain areas into sanctuaries for the released bears. Then they would see untold recognition and praise. I live in hope. Please sign the online petition and make a comment too.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-bears-in-korea.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wanderingseoul61/489675680/in/photostream/

Passions · Joined: 31 May 2006

Cultural Imperialism at it's finest.

Thiuda · Posted: Sun Jul 29, 2007 1:01 am Post subject:

marcus61 · Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Location: out on a limb

Well the information I got came from Green Korea, a Korean animal rights group, was written by a Korean and KBS TV did an expose on it, so it's not a matter of cultural inperialistic bull shyte. There are even Koreans who are opposed to the practices of their fellow countrymen.. What a very Anglocentric thing for you to write. As for the treatment of animals in other countries, I agree with you. There is no such thing, IMHO, as humane slaughter. Nor do I agree with the conditions in which chickens, and other farmed animals are kept. However ....

"A BRUTAL TRADE IN A PROTECTED SPECIES THAT YOU WON'T SEE MENTIONED AT FTA NEGOTIATIONS
Is Korea a modern industrial and technological powerhouse, as its government would have the world believe? Or is it still a developing country steeped in superstition, struggling to shake off the vestiges of its third-world past?"

This is the first paragraph appearing on the moonbears.org site (a Korean site)
So don't give me that shyte about cultural relativity.. Cruelty is cruelty and if a country such as Korea wants to be a world player, it needs to lift it's game amd stop lying and pretending everything is "SPARKLING".. Remember, "all that glitters is not gold"

As for ecotourism, well I'm only suggesting a possibility that could assist the victims. What have you suggested? Oh, yes, farm them so the wild population (of estimated 10 bears) will continue to live in peace and safe from poachers.. Yeah, way to go! That will fix it! How ignorant?