A horse race takes place on a beach on the popular southern resort island of Jeju. (Yonhap)
JEJU, Oct. 7 (Korea Bizwire) — On the southern island of Jeju, where about 1,400 race horses are retired every year, a proposal was made to slaughter and use the meat from retired race horses to develop new pet food products.
Animal rights groups are voicing strong opposition against this proposal.
On Wednesday, Jeju’s provincial government unveiled the results of a commissioned study conducted by the Korea Livestock Economic Research Institute.
The study concluded that considering that the annual size of the domestic pet food market is estimated at over 5 trillion won, the slaughtering of retired race horses for use in high-end pet food has economic feasibility.
Animal rights groups, however, are fiercely protesting against the proposal, saying that it does not comply with the global trend of protecting race horses through a lifelong management system.
“Even in Hong Kong, with its well-developed horse racing industry, race horses are managed to be able to join the race until they are 11 or 12 years old. They are managed until death without being slaughtered,” said Kim Ran-young, head of the Jeju Animal Rights Research Institute.
On the same day, nine other animal rights groups issued a joint statement calling for the cancellation of the plan to establish a pet food plant using retired race horses and instead the establishment of a lifelong management system for race horses.
The animal rights activists also stressed in their statement that around 200 kinds of medicines are currently being used to treat race horses, including 45 kinds of medicines that cannot be used on horses destined for consumption.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
