By Oh Ro-sy

“There is no other way to use the dogs if they can’t complete the mission,” an Army officer said. “It is inevitable that 70 to 80 percent of the dogs are put down each year.”

“The government has to take responsibility for the animals which have been raised for the nation’s security,” said Cho Hee-kyoung, chief of the Korean Society for Animal Freedom. “It also has to look for chances for at least two to three years for the dogs to be adopted.”

The Army has killed more than 100 dogs which failed tests to be military dogs.

About 70 percent of 8-month-old dogs have been killed or provided for experiments after failing the first test at Army’s dog training center, according to the Hankook Ilbo on July 4.

“The Army disposed of the young dogs with similar ratio though less than 200 dogs were born last year,” a training center spokesman said. “Actually there were few dogs donated to laboratories.”

The proposed military dogs which are born in the training center usually take the first test at eight months old before undergoing three lots of training.

First test is to examine how much the young dogs hold on to a ball and how well they associate with humans and other dogs. If they don’t perform well enough, they fail. Through the process, only 20-30 percent of them are deployed for detecting weapons and drugs or military action.

“It is difficult to give military dogs to civilians because they are too aggressive,” an officer said.

However, the animal rights group claimed that the Army has to find other ways to dispose of the dogs.

“The 8-month-old dogs can make a fresh start in life,” said Cho. “The dogs have to be adopted via private organizations.”

“We know that killing animals will be prohibited under the Animal Protection Act, starting next year,” the officer said. “But, we have not yet decided how to use the dogs though we have discussed it.”