Animal cafes remain outside legal boundaries

Cats roam around a cat cafe in Seoul. While animal cafes have gained popularity, animals there often face mistreatment as Korea does not have a law governing the places. / Korea Times file

By Choi Ha-young

Animal cafes are increasingly seen in cities around Korea. They have various animals, from dogs and cats to unique animals like raccoons, flying squirrels, reptiles and even sheep. Customers can enjoy their drinks in the company of these animals.

Surprisingly, such stores don't have legal status, as there is no law governing them. This inevitably causes a lack of management and mistreatment of the animals.

One cat cafe in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, had about 40 cats with only five staff members managing the place, while many random visitors including foreign tourists came and went. There was a sign reading: "Don't feed the animals. Let them eat when they want."

However, some customers held out food to attract the cats' attention and staff members did nothing. A worker applied eye drops to one cat suffering from an eye disease.

Lack of healthcare

This happens to dogs at animal cafes as well, a source in the industry said.

"Most animal cafe owners don't have veterinary knowledge and they treat animals on their own to save money," a dog trainer said on condition of anonymity. "It's hard to differentiate animals' cataracts from glaucoma. The ignorance can lead to blindness due to pressure on the eyes," he said.

In February, one blogger revealed the grim reality about the dog cafe; he previously worked at in Gangnam, southern Seoul. The cafe is famous for dogs' acrobatic tricks. "Now dead, the dogs named Amba and Panda were very sick, but the owner was not interested in going to a vet," he said. "I was not shocked at all to hear that they died."

Hierarchy among animals leads to fights and injuries, but there is no proper treatment, the writer said. Even if a female dog is pregnant, it still has to perform for customers who are unaware of its condition. This is all due to the cafe owners' profit-oriented approach, unrestrained by ethics, the blogger said.

"For cats, getting them spayed or neutered is essential. At some cafes, newborn kittens are just sent to other places and nobody knows where they are sent to," said a woman who manages a cafe for stray cats in Sincheon, eastern Seoul. "When I took over this cafe, there were no medical records for the cats at any nearby animal hospitals."

According to her, medical costs can run high, with some surgical procedures costing more than 5 million won ($4,480).

Moreover, living in a cafe itself is a big stress for the animals, the dog trainer said.

"It's like living in an office. After 10 hours of work every day, they have to stay there at night too. Approximately two hours of jogging is necessary for dogs, but most of the cafes don't offer that."

This is not the end of the problems. If cafes shut down for owners' personal or financial reasons, it is not known where the animals are sent. "The owners take some expensive species with them, but some animals are given to random people under the name of free distribution. The worst case is they're sent to illegal animal breeding farms," he said, adding that female dogs at the farms are forced to breed continuously to produce more puppies.

Lawless area

This is because of the absence of regulations on animal cafes. The term "animal cafe" doesn't exist in law; they are categorized as ordinary restaurants, which requires no supervision for these animals. According to the Animal Protection Act, animal-related businesses are limited to funerals, sales, imports and breeding.

Two relevant government authorities ― the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs ― said they are not in charge of animal cafes.

"According to laws on food hygiene, animals should not be in restaurants," said Park Man-jong at the KFDA. "Restaurants have to have a separate space for animals if they are to accept them."

Municipalities can inspect whether animal cafes have separate spaces for animals, but they are incapable of inspecting every single store, Park said.

Former lawmaker Eun Su-mi tried to revise the Animal Protection Act to make a law governing animal cafes, but the bill was discarded automatically when the 19th National Assembly closed. "We couldn't discuss the bill actively due to strong opposition that it was likely to regulate small businesses," she said.

She said the opponents' main reason for the objection was: "There's no time to take care of animals in this society where human beings are struggling to survive."

Eun, however, thinks human dignity and animal welfare are connected. "Not only wealth, but also peace of mind is becoming important, and animals are an important origin of happiness," she said. "If my family-like pets or animals at the cafes are mistreated, it's a violation of their right to pursue happiness."

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