NEWS FLASH >> The Herald in Australia has run a good article on greyhound racing in Australia and the links to Asia ... click here

URGENT ACTION >> please contact Australian Embassies in Asia to protest about the spread of greyhound racing to Asia and the conditions that the dogs suffer there ... click here

URGENT ACTION >> please contact and protest to Austrade (The Australian Trade Commission) the Federal Government agency involved with Australian businessess overseas to protest about the spread of greyhound racing to Asia and the conditions that the dogs suffer there ... click here

NEWS FLASH >> Animal Freedom Korea has recently re-opened its English website. "We try to update it as frequently as possible so that we can let the world know what is really happening here in South Korea. We hope this website will serve as a good window to animal protection in Korea." click here

URGENT ACTION >> Korean Government Seeks to Legalize Sale of Dog Meat click here or for background read the next alert...

New Alert >> Korean Government is considering new rules on the eating of dogs ... Animal Freedom Korea are calling for a total ban ... you can help click here

New Alert >> October 2004 New animal protection laws for Korea click here

New Alert>> October 2004 STOP THE LEGALISATION OF GREYHOUND RACING IN KOREA click here

Action Alert>>October 2003 click here to help GA international and AFK end the export of
greyhounds to Korea from New Zealand and Australia.

Action Alert >> Help Korean Animal Protection Society with their latest appeal click here

Animal protection campaigner Anne Phair is trying to raise £1,000 for the Korean Animal Protection Society (KAPS) through the sale of calendars featuring rescued animals at the KAPS shelter in Korea.

The calendars cost £10 each and are available from Anne at 27 Amyas Way, Northam, Bideford, Devon, EX39 1UT.

Please make cheques/POs payable to KAPS. You can learn more about the work of KAPS by visiting their website at www.koreananimals.org

OTHER GROUPS WE WORK WITH

Animal Freedom Korea - Korean group working with us to help stop greyhound racing in Korea. Check out their website www.animalkorea.org/

New Alert >> October 2004 New animal protection laws for Korea click here

Kamsaksan's story

We found a greyhound which had just finished the race and looked suspicious, when most of the racing industry folks and breeders were occupied with the racing. It didn't seem to calm down easily and looked in need of medical care. The owner of this dog was concentrating on another race with another dog of his. Its name was Kamaksan.

It was sold to an individual farmhouse in the name of raising farmhouse income in the city of Jechun. Twenty four farmers started to raise greyhounds and most of them gave up.

Greyhounds raised with a purpose cannot be raise properly on food scraps form restaurants. Considering the current situation of Korean farming industry, it was nothing but a roseate promise to make the petty farmers have extra income by raising greyhound. Moreover, there's actually any room for those farmers in the industry when there are numerous greyhound clubs that came into business in the hope of legislation of dog racing. The mayor of Jechun who deceived the farmers needs to be awakened!!

We got Kamsaksan some water to drink and tried to get a hold of the owner. A few people showed their interest in the dog but nobody didn't really do anything. The dog kept exhausted more and more seriously and finally dropped and rolled over on the ground foaming at the mouth. It couldn't even spit out the soil that had come into its mouth in the mean time. We tried to water his mouth from the side and wash off the soil.

It seemed to need an I.V. but the place it was taken to was the greyhound farm not the vet's clinic. They wanted to treat him on their own. They must have come up with a conclusion that it would be lucrative to lose a dog rather than spending extra money on its treatment. It was not a high performance dog anyway. Later, we found out Kamaksan had died five hours after it was taken to the farm.

BACKGROUND AND ACTION

Like other south east asian countries, South Korea is expanding it's greyhound racing industry with support and encouragement from the rest of the greyhound world. The Australian industry is particularly prominent in this expansion (see article below). In South Korea there is no opportunity or hope of rehoming the dogs that have become surplus to requirements, therefore they often end up being slaughtered in the barbaric dog meat industry. click image to see a larger version For more info on the greyhound racing industry in Korea visit Animal Freedom Korea's excellent website: www.animals.or.kr/english/index.htm (You will need to scroll down a fair way to get to the case studies)

February 24, 2000, Sunday The Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) Section: Sport Column - Dog Watch Page 77 Byline: John Davis

S Korean business goes to the dogs Greyhound racing is set to start in South Korea in April as a recreational sport among major corporations. The first shipment of greyhounds bound for South Korea leaves Sydney Airport on March 4. The TWM Communications Group, headed by Tim Michael, will be supplying greyhounds to Spa Corporation, which will conduct events on a track outside of Seoul. The greyhounds will then be on-sold to multi-national companies such as Hyundai and Samsung to race under their company logos. Michael's business partner Charlie Riccio will head to Seoul with western Sydney studmaster Tony Rhodes to represent Australia at the opening meeting on April 13. "The principal of the club, Mr. Taek Ho Shin, has planned a huge international meeting to open the track and representatives from Australia, America, Italy, Ireland, Russia and Vietnam will be attending," Riccio said. "There will be two 10-event meetings staged that weekend and both will be fully broadcast on local television. "Although there is no legalised betting in Korea, the club is confident the venture can make a profit from advertising revenue and the purchase of the greyhounds by the various companies. "Those companies will race their greyhounds against one another on what is known as Corporate Sports Days and patrons will pay to come and watch the races. "We've already had one of these functions in Seoul and 20,000 people turned up that day, so we know the interest is there. "This (venture) has the potential to be the biggest operation of its kind and within two or three years we could be exporting up to 3,000 greyhounds a year to the Koreans." With a populations reaching 60 million, Riccio anticipates that greyhound racing will quickly gain favour in the Korean culture and there are already plans for another four tracks to be built. For more background information on greyhound racing in Korea: www.all-creatures.org/aip/nl-28feb2002-korea.html Find Out more about the Korean dog meat industry: www.wspa-international.org/site/index.php?page=600

ACTION:

Please be instrumental in stopping greyhound racing in South Korea. Every letter, email, fax sent or telephone call made to the corporations responsible for greyhound racing/killings makes an enormous difference. By registering your complaint you are showing there is phenomenal support for the greyhounds and great opposition to their abuse and murder. Please make it a priority to, at least once a day, act on the information provided on this website.

In your letters highlight all negative aspects of greyhound racing. In particularly the inevitable decline in the tourist trade in South Korea, if greyhound racing continues. You may like to use the letter below as a model.

Sample letter for South Korea

Dear Sir

I am writing to you regarding greyhound racing in Korea. I am aware that greyhounds that are surplus to requirements are being slaughtered. Abusing animals in the name of entertainment and then killing them for human consumption is NOT a tourist attraction and it will inevitably have a negative effect on your tourist trade.

The greyhound racing industry has been in decline for many years especially in the USA where the industry has had massive financial losses. This is for several reasons, the first being that it has been recognised as a cruel sport and banned in many states in the USA and even more recently it has been abolished in South Africa.

The second reason is that by far more profitable ventures such as lotteries and casinos have increased in popularity and attracted the public and the tourist trade. The third reason is that greyhound racing attracts and is associated with the criminal underworld and the use of illegal drugs as recently exposed in a documentary by the BBC.

I urge you to reconsider and keep greyhound racing out Korea. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

WHO TO CONTACT:

Prime Minister Goh, Kun

77-6 Sejong-Ro, Jongno-gu Seoul, South Korea 110-050

m_opm@opm.go.kr

Korea Greyhound Racing Association:

Head Official Song-Soo, Bae Korea Greyhound Racing Association

Tel : 82-2-6335-6119 (Hotline : 82-2-6335-6211) Fax : 82-2-6335-6200

maxhint@korea.com

Mailing address: 12F, Sinsong Building, 25-12, Yeouido-dong, Youngdeunpo-ku, Seoul, Korea.

Please also contact the following, who are responsible for greyhound racing in Korea:

Jechun City

http://www.jecheon.chungbuk.kr
jechon21@chol.com

Greyhound Park

http://www.greypark.co.kr
greypark@greypark.co.kr

Please also ask both companies below not to associate themselves with such a cruel industry:

Hyundai Corporation:

President and CEO Chung Chai-Kwan,

140-2 Kye-dong, Chongro-Ku Seoul 110-793 South Korea

Tel.: 82-2-746-1114 Fax: 82-2-741-2341

Samsung Corporation:

Taepyungno Bldg., 310 Taepyungno 2-Ga Chung-Gu, Seoul South Korea

Tel.: 82-2-3706-1114 Fax: 82-2-3706-1212

Other organisations to contact: remember many dogs are being exported from Australia to South Korea and other Asian countries.

Asian Racing Federation:
(in charge of greyhound and dog racing in Asia)

click here

Austrade:
(Australian Trade Commission)
In charge of Australian trade abroad

click here

Please also contact the national/international media & your local tourist offices and let them know what you think about greyhound racing in Asia.

Back to the top of the page

Asian Racing Federation:
(in charge of greyhound and horse racing in Asia)

click here

Austrade
(Australian Trade Commission)
In charge of Australian trade abroad

click here

Korea Racing Authority

685 Juam-dong, Kwachon
KYONGGI-DO, KOREA 427 070

Phone: (82) 2 509 1221/1223, Fax: (82) 2 509 1219

Email: inter@kra.co.kr

Mr Lee, Woo-Jae - Chairman & CEO
Mr Jung Keum-Suk - Director Of Racing

PO Box 127, Kidderminster, DY10 3UZ.



Many of the greyhounds in South Korea are exported from Australia ... click here to find out more about greyhounds in Australia