Korean Job Discussion Forums

[peppermint]

I posted this on the buy and sell forum a few days ago, but this article has info on some animal shelters in the Seoul area.

[sibidi]

I'd have to agree that unless you're willing to bring that animal with you when you leave, you shouldn't even consider buying/adopting a pet.

Slightly related, but I was just wondering if anyone knew of any animal rights groups in Seoul/Korea. If any exist, they sure aren't doing their job. Did you know that they have a big block of pet stores in DongDaeMun? It's really pretty sad. They'll fit 10 rabbits into a tiny cage. I saw a scared anteater once as well as a monkey. They even sell prarie dogs and chipmunks. The happiest and cutest animals they'll place by the sidewalk; the older, sicker ones they put in a cage together, almost hidden from view. And they never seem to have any water in the cages either. The whole area is seriously depressing.

Remember the book BladeRunner was based on? Well in it animals are very rare, so the price of owning a pet is exhorbitant. Those who can't afford a real animal buy electric animals, or I guess androids. I've been thinking about it and I think maybe this wouldn't be an altogether bad thing, especially in Korea. As it is, animals are ridiculously cheap and are purchased whimisically from one of a myriad of pet stores or street vendors. Dogs are treated as fashion accessories rather than living creatures. And once they become "un-fashionable" or get too big, they are abandoned.

Of course this pattern fuels a pet industry marked by sheer avarice and cruelty. Sure, you have good pet stores here and there that are run by knowledgeable staff, but most of the one's I've seen are run by money-grubbing middle-aged plebs only interested in making a fast buck.