Companion animals abandoned during long holidays

By Kim Bo-eun

Accommodations for companion animals thrive during long holidays, when many people choose to travel but too many animals face a less fortunate fate.

Data from Paw In Hands, a statistics website on animal abandonment, shows 75,625 animals have been abandoned nationwide since Jan. 1 this year.

Taking a closer look, 322 animals were abandoned during the four-day traditional Lunar New Year holiday in January and 2,133 during the nine-day break in May.

Paw In Hands keeps track by tallying the number of animals coming to local government-run shelters.

Companion animals are also largely abandoned during the summer holiday season.

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs shows 9,093 animals were abandoned in July, followed by 8,936 in August.

This happens because many people give up their pets when they cannot find someone to keep them when they travel or visit their relatives during traditional holidays.

Other than animals that are purposely abandoned, lost animals also account for around half of the number, according to Paw in Hand.

“Because government institutions close during holidays, it is hard to register lost animals during this period. Owners must take measures such as registering their pets, as well as putting a nametag with a contact number on it,” a staffer said.

The number of abandoned animals has grown from 81,000 in 2014 to 82,000 in 2015, to 89,000 last year.

Some animals at shelters reunite with their owners, while some find new owners, others are sent to institutions or organizations, and others die from illness or are euthanized.

Ten days after an animal arrives at a shelter, its ownership is transferred to the regional government, so they can be adopted or sent to other facilities.

Animals are euthanized within an average of 20 days, according to circumstances at the shelters, the Paw in Hands staffer said.

A staffer takes care of dogs at a companion animal adoption center at Seoul Grand Park in this file photo. / Korea Times photo by Shin Sang-soon

Tackling the problem

The government is taking measures to deal with the growing number of abandoned animals.

The animal protection act was revised _ owners abandoning their pets can face a fine of up to 3 million won, from 1 million won previously.

The revised law will go into effect next March.

A measure to reward those who report owners who do not register their pets will also be introduced as a means to boost the registration rate.

In order to encourage adoption, the government subsidizes 50 percent of expenses to neutralize or vaccinate animals _ 30 percent is provided by local governments and 20 percent by the agriculture ministry.

Encouraging adoption has been one of President Moon Jae-in’s election pledges, and he adopted Tori, an abandoned dog, to live with him in Cheong Wa Dae at the beginning of his term.

But some point to the root cause of the problem as incorrect perceptions people have of companion animals.

“In order to prevent the practices of abandoning companion animals, measures need to be taken at the stage the animals are sold. There should be mandatory education on raising companion animals and the animals must be registered when they are sold,” the Paw in Hands staffer said.

“However, under the status quo, companion animals are too easily purchased and sold and, while the registration of these animals is mandatory, this does not take place at the stage they are sold, so registration rates are below 50 percent.”

The problem is that regulations state animals can be sold from the age of two months, but registration can only be done three months after birth.

This is because there are views from vets that animals are too young to have chips embedded in them at two months, an agriculture ministry official said.

“It would be more feasible to raise the age the animals can be sold at to three months,” she said.