Urgent help needed for greyhounds in Korea/ Animal Freedom Korea

[Guest guest]

Please circulate to all groups worldwide

 

Greyhound Action International has been working with Animal Freedom Korea to

help stop the greyhound industry. We are appealing to all individuals and

organisations that care for greyhounds worldwide to make a stance with us

against

greyhound cruelty in Korea. The KGRC(Korean Greyhound Racing Club) are

attempting to pass a greyhound racing bill legalizing betting in Korea. We need

to

stop them.

 

The following email is an update sent to us from the President of Animal

Freedom Korea. Please show your support and help Animal freedom Korea stop the

growth of the racing industry. Their contact details are at the end of the

email.

 

 

Many thanks

Greyhound Action International

<A HREF= " www.greyhoundaction.co.uk " >www.greyhoundaction.co.uk</A>

 

 

Dear Raven

First of all, Animal Freedom Korea has become a government sanctioned

corporate body this year. You can visit our English website at <A

HREF= " http://www.animals.or.kr/english/index.htm " >

http://www.animals.or.kr/english/index.htm</A> for the news. The website is not

completed yet though.

 

The greyhound racing industry people are being very active to make the racing

into a gambling industry. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has

recently promulgated the bill for the amendment of livestock law and collected

people's opinion, in which there was a clause to make pet dogs and racing dogs

registered by the breed. The reason for them to include racing dogs particularly

in the clause seems that they intend to make regulations on dog racing soon. It

must have been the result of the lobby of the industry.

 

We protested firmly and that part of the law seems to be removed. We'll keep

looking closely and do our best not to make the amendment pass keeping in

touch with the Ministry. However, that wouldn't mean that we can stop the

legislation of dog racing altogether. It seems they are negotiating with some

congressmen and going to make a move some time next year. We'll need your help

then.

 

Several things are going on regarding the dog racing legislation. First of

all, KGRC has achieved the exclusive contract and copyright of the distribution

of the motion pictures in the Asian region from NZRB in New Zealand on August

14th. KGRC is broadcasting live racing on their website (<A

HREF= " http://www.dogracing.net/ " >www.dogracing.net</A>)

from 26th. According to KGRC, the time difference for the broadcasting between

NZ and Korea is only about 10 minutes.

 

KGRC also provides the paid members with a game service they can bet for. In

order to make people have more interest in dog racing, the company offers the

ones who won with so called 'game money' which cannot be returned in cash and

give them presents when the 'game money' reaches a certain point. (e.g. a

golden pig, overseas travelling coupon etc.)

 

I wonder if you can do anything about their contract with NZRB. Hopefully you

can help us terminate the contract. Their website is <A

HREF= " http://www.tab.co.nz/ " >http://www.tab.co.nz</A> .

We are worried about people starting to develop interest in the greyhound

racing and the betting (a gambling) has to be stopped before it gets popular.

 

It's not easy to find out how the greyhound farms are kept and managed

exactly only by visiting them though but greyhounds are being treated carefully

as a

quality breed because they were introduced in a form of investment.

 

At the moment, the problems of abuse and abandonment which can be committed

by the breeders and distributors don't appeal to be serious yet. But it's only

a matter of time for us to see greyhounds left without being taken care of or

dying for dog meat.

 

It'll be great if you can give us a list of the other organizations who can

help us stop this action in Korea or you can introduce us to them. We'll

planning to get as many organizations as possible involved in the campaign to

prevent the bill from passing.

 

As I said earlier, we are working on our English website. It takes time

because we're still thoroughly dependent on our volunteers. The address is <A

HREF= " http://www.animalkorea.org/ " >

http://www.animalkorea.org</A>

We have put up some pictures of greyhound racing, the content of which will

be kept updating. (<A

HREF= " http://www.animals.or.kr/english/index.htm " >http://www.animals.or.kr/engli\

sh/index.htm</A>)

I'll keep you informed.

Best regards,

 

Hee kyung Jo

 

President

Animal Freedom Korea

307-18,  HaengDang-Dong  SungDong-Ku

Seoul 133-070

South Korea

 

tel : +82-2-2292-6337    

fax: +82-2-2292-6339

e-mail : <A HREF= " animal " >animal</A>

<A HREF= " http://www.animals.or.kr/ " >http://www.animals.or.kr</A> (Korean)