By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
As well as her husband and two children, Kim Ae-ouk has another special family member ― a golden retriever.
Her relationship with her dog ``Gangeun'' began last year when she ``adopted'' him from a shelter for abandoned animals.
``Gangeun is not just my family's best companion but actually a member of our family,'' Kim said. She lives in Bundang, a satellite city south of Seoul.
While volunteering at an animal shelter, she found the dog, with a tumor in one of his legs, abandoned on a street.
``I think his original owner abandoned him due to costs for treating the tumor. It was so sad,'' the 29-year-old mother said. ``But he is now healthy and adorable.''
She has so far saved more than 200 abandoned dogs and helped them find new owners and homes.
Kim asks pet owners to take good care of their pets as family members or companions and hopes more dogs at shelters will find new homes without further suffering.
``Once abandoned, pets are sent to an animal shelter with only 10 days to live unless the original or new owners arrive,'' Kim said.
Kim said about half of dogs at the shelter are abandoned for various reasons, such as diseases or family conflicts. The rest are lost.
``Many pets are abandoned around apartment complexes and other residential areas that underwent reconstruction. Old houses have space to raise dogs but apartments don't,'' Kim said.
She started working as a volunteer rescuer of abandoned animals early last year due to her own sad experience. She had lost her pet dog and failed to find him despite weeks of effort.
``It was so painful to lose my pet ― more than I imagined. After failing to get him back, I decided to do something for stray animals,'' she said.
Kim finds her job rewarding, as she is happy to see abandoned dogs find new families. Of course, she has to spend a considerable amount of time and money. About half of her day is devoted to volunteering and she sometimes spends 1 million won per month on it.
She now runs an Internet shopping mall and works as a saleswoman for a credit card company to afford the expenses of her volunteer work.
``The best part of my work? Well, my son and daughter seem to get to learn how precious life is by seeing what I'm doing for abandoned animals,'' Kim said.
Kim runs a Web site (https://cafe.naver.com/119ulove) to help abandoned dogs. Through the site, she receives donations, arranges animal adoptions and introduces vets.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, there were about 65,000 abandoned pets reported in 2006, 56,000 of which were dogs.
Civic groups for animal protection claim that the total number is much higher than the government's estimate since it only counted those that were sent to each district's animal shelter.
``The number of abandoned dogs could be five times as high as the government's estimate,'' Cho Hee-kyung, president of the Korean Animal Welfare Association, said.