Dignity as a Living Creature

  As the social atmosphere has become unreliable and dark, more people get comfort from pets such as dogs, cats, and birds.  They believe that raising pets helps them to develop their emotional and communicational ability. By raising them, people can be relaxed when they are stuck in a tough human relationship.

  On the other hand, the abuse towards animals has been a serious issue lately. Some people mistreat animals not even knowing it, but others do it on purpose. The movement to get animal rights back is now being facilitated. A dictionary defines  animal abuse as “by humans of suffering or harm upon any non-human animal, regardless of whether the act is against the law”. It sounds distant, but we can see it easily in everyday life, ranging from wearing mink coats and crocodile leather jackets to eating foie gras and drinking bile from bears. No matter if one does it intentionally or not, it is an obvious fact that the animal is under  great pain.

  Currently, there are some huge flaws in Korean people’s cognition  since there is not a sufficient education  system that supports animal rights. Since people are not yet aware of animal’s rights, this becomes the primary cause of animal abuse. As for Korea, the concept of pets was disseminated to people later than other advanced countries. In order to gratify the demands of pet culture, which has spread widely over Korea in a short period, professional breeders have appeared. Since these breeders are only concerned about their financial profits, they have affected people’s thoughts about how to treat pets. It made people think that animals are a product to which it is okay to do anything harmful. Furthermore, since the legal system about animal protection is not well legislated yet, animal abusers are not punished as harshly as they should be. Insufficient support from the government for animal shelters is another problem. Inadequate cognizance of animal rights and a lack of laws have contributed to animal abuse, especially for abandoned animals in a shelter.

  Animal shelters are not run by the government, but by private enterprises They put greater value on profitability than animal rights. A private shelter’s profit is determined by the number of animals they accommodate, and this causes the shelters to cheat. For instance, they accommodate animals over the number of animals permitted. It is a fatal blunder in that animals get so much stress coming from saturated shelters, and this causes them to die earlier.

  Euthanasia being administered in the shelter can be also seen as an animal abuse because it is for the human’s interests rather than the  animals. The shelters conduct euthanasia since the accommodation in the shelter is absurdly insufficient for the number of abandoned animals. They do it because they can  get some money by conducting it. For the benefits they can gain by conducting euthanasia, shelters do not follow the 10 day protection period which is established by the law.
This is the reason why some people say that not keeping animals in the shelter is one way to protect them.
  A few months ago, people were in great shock by “The dog factory,” and “The Cat factory.” It was widely announced by a famous television show in Korea < The Animal Farm>, which mainly discuss animal life. Now that people have much favor toward dogs and cats as pets, some people buy as many dogs as they can and put them in the cage. The cage is not hygienic at all. It only  makes the animals get infected by various diseases. The dogs are crying out loud because their freedom is restricted in the cage, and their lives are going to end  if they cannot give birth anymore. Over 100 dogs and cats are living in cramped rooms waiting for delivery. Surprisingly, the owners do not care whether the dogs and cats are sick or hurt. They only focus on the benefits from the factory.

  It brings a lot of guilt when a woman induces an animal’s delivery, which is totally illegal. The woman who did this process is not an expert at all. She said that it is okay just because she had watched what a vet does; adding that bringing dogs to a veterinarian costs a lot. Owners of the factory breed against the animals’ will to get their babies fast. After the babies are born, they are separated from their  parents because their parents should get ready for the next breeding. They were raised by other dogs and cats. Unfortunately, this factory operates on  private property so the owners cannot be punished even though they break these animal protection rules.

  A big signature campaign was organized in Jeju Island in March. An old man held the neck of a white dog and drove fast. The dog was suffocated and showed its pain by whining, but he never stopped. The criminal act was caught on a surveillance camera. After the video was released, over ten thousand people got a signature to punish the man. The accusation is now  in process and many people hope to give him a suitable punishment.

  These are not all the cases of animal abuse and still now, somewhere, it occurs without guilty consciences. Animal rights should be respected and their lives protected. In order to improve things regarding animal abuse, many more efforts are required both from individuals and the society. People should treat animals as  living creatures that have emotions just like human beings. People should be aware that animals are meant to  coexist with us as a part of nature. Coexistence is the law of nature, and the most crucial concept, which people should always keep in mind and follow. If this law of nature is not strictly preserved by people, it could  lead to the whole collapse of nature.

  Social systems should also be changed in order to decrease animal abuse. In the case of the majority of advanced countries, animal abusers are punished and treated as a flagrant criminal, which is different from the case of Korea. If the punishments for animal abuse are reinforced, it will be effective to raise awareness about the seriousness of animal abuse and help people realize that animal abuse is a severe crime. If the government takes the lead to decrease the animal abuse rate, there will be more definite results that people can actually see. Also, including animal protection as a subject in elementary school will bring a positive effect since elementary school is designated as a compulsory education course in Korea. Punishing animal abusers strictly and being aware of animal rights will be a natural thing based on the education they have received from  school.
  It is only when the problem of animal abuse will be solved that the necessary individual and societal changes can take place.. The system will change if people start to realize the importance of protecting animal rights, and the reformed system will positively affect our  society in the future  Starting with changing people’s awareness of animal abuse can be a foundation to establish and reinforce Korea’s current animal protection laws