Korean Job Discussion Forums

mithridates

http://home.ebs.co.kr/docuprime/index.jsp

This documentary has taken quite a while to film - I was interviewed for it in July and they've been working on it ever since (edit: just found out that it took eight months to film). It's about cats in Korea, and especially about their relationship with humans here, both people that like and hate them. I've noticed a large improvement over the past few years, though there's still a long way to go.

VanIslander · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:32 am Post subject:

I just spent a month in pet-friendly Thailand, where not a single dog or cat was at all scared of me. I must have pet a thousand cats (over a hundred for sure!). One even walked on the bar up to me and my rum drink. Smile

There was a 16-year-old dog named "Aut" sitting in fromt of my hotel, belonged to the owners apparently but cared for by '80 friends' said a nearby taxi stand clerk. Twice I saw cats sitting next to the big dog, chillin' out in the shade.

I wondered whether a Korean ajossi would dare to take a kick at them. Animal cruelty is one thing I'll never get used to.

If I had a t.v. I might check out that documentary. I certainly would like some detailed commentary/review on it hereabouts from any of you who do tune in.

mithridates · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:00 am Post subject:

Ah, that reminds me:

http://www.lotte.com/lotte/event/20091009_star/LCStarLove.jsp?tclick=love_sky

Send that link to any Korean friends. It's a campaign that'll run for another two days (until the 5th) where Lotte donates a package of pet food for every 50 messages written below, and each person can write up to a single message per day. So far 41,000+ messages have been written for a total of 826 packages of pet food. Pay attention to fine print #3 though: messages have to be at least 10 characters in length and on topic, so no just writing 고양이 or 짠~ or something.

Bloopity Bloop · Joined: 26 Apr 2009 Location: Seoul yo

My co-teacher: "I hate cats, because when I look into their eyes, I see something evil."

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

I love cats. I've got two (7 & 8 years old now) rescued from certain death when they were kittens, one from a cruel petshop & one from a busy street.

I've been promoting the joys of cat petship to my students for years & get a real kick out of the snowballing number now owning them. Cats are well-suited to apartment living here & it brings an improved sensitivity towards their feral cousins scrounging in the neighborhood. Feelings for animals is a definite positive.

Next to my girls middle school are a number of petstores that have recently prominently featured kittens & the girls have taken notice. I've seen a lot of cute animals come & go. Good quality supplies are widely available now too.

Nice trend.

matthews_world · Joined: 15 Feb 2003

Sounds like fun stuff. *Not* Rolling Eyes

Feril cats in Korea?

Boiling cats in Korea for medicinal purposes?

What else would be talked about.

mimis · Joined: 24 May 2009

Moldy Rutabaga · Joined: 01 Jul 2003 Location: Ansan, Korea

My daughter has two cats and they seem well suited for life here as they are indoor cats. I've noticed Korea has changed a lot for the better in the last few years. There's now lots of cat foods and toys and goods on home shopping, and more pet hospitals that will board or treat animals.

... although my cats for some reason like to go into the apartment hallway and watch the elevator doors open and close. There's a cranky old couple in the hall who yell at us for doing this, on the explanation that the cats might scare their children. Sure they will. These are cats that run and hide when the microwave beeps. Confused

fermentation · Joined: 22 Jun 2009

Thanks for the info. I missed the first part. I hope they show a rerun.

koreastories · Joined: 19 Oct 2009

Thanks to the OP for posting this. I rarely watch TV but I'll make an exception.

I have two cats in Korea - both rescued as kittens.

Konglishman · Joined: 14 Sep 2007 Location: Nanjing

beercanman · Joined: 16 May 2009

There were a lot of stray dogs in the apartment buildings area I was at years back in Thailand. They sometimes hung out in groups, like 7 or 10 of em together, but seemed harmless enough. They seemed to shag often enough, probably keeping the stray numbers high.

Don't think I've seen more paranoid cats than
in Korea, but cats are a bit nervous anyway.

Xuanzang · Joined: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Sadang

Do they really boil cats in those homemade ju places?

mithridates · Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:43 am Post subject:

It just ended and part 2 was much better than the first. This one focused on 1) how Korea doesn't do a good job of taking care of its street cats; 2) how Japan does; 3) people in Korea that are working to make a difference, especially in introducing TNR (trap-neuter-return) to local people as a way to remove the problem of overpopulation, fighting etc.

fermentation · Joined: 22 Jun 2009

It was an interesting watch. A few things I noticed
1. I was really impressed by the Japanese. It really showed the difference between Japan and Korea.
2. That part with the ajushi screaming and throwing his broom because some guy was feeding feral cats pissed me off. It was so typically ajushi-esque the way he threw his little temper trantrum.
3. I thought it was funny when they were interviewing the Japanese guy and a cat behind him was licking its balls.
4. I wonder if the women with the cat that was killed by the "security guard" ajushi got any sort of compensation or justice.

The pictures during the end credits were pretty damn good. Wish I could get those somehow. they also said you can watch the documentary on the ebs website, although I'm not sure exactly how. I still wanna see the 1st part.