In Defense Of Animals & Jindo Love Rescue Save Dogs From The South Korean Dog Meat Trade & Fly Them To Their New Homes In Los Angeles

Yesterday, two more dogs that were saved from South Korea’s brutal dog meat trade by In Defense of Animals and Jindo Love Rescue arrived in Los Angeles after being stranded for weeks without a flight to the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The dogs, four-month-old Jack and seven-month-old Nabi, are now among the nine dog meat survivors that have arrived in Los Angeles since the beginning of May.

“They met their guardians and are on the way to their new homes,” Alyson Burton, Creative Manager with In Defense of Animals told WAN.

Burton shared that Jack was adorable and eager to meet his human mother, while Nabi was a little scared but will adjust well once settled.

Jack kissing his human mother’s fingers.

Nabi waiting to leave for her forever home.

In Defense of Animals and Jindo Love Rescue have rescued hundreds of dogs from South Korea’s horrific dog meat trade. The organizations have worked tirelessly to find them all loving forever homes in the U.S. and Canada since partnering in 2017.

As noted above, these efforts have been drastically hampered by shelter-in-place measures, a decreased number of travelers, canceled flights, and travel bans as the world attempts to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The organizations rely on travelers who volunteer to act as couriers and bring dogs to North America from South Korea, but dogs who have adopters waiting for them in the states have been delayed by a lack of travelers. Flying dogs as cargo is an expensive backup option, especially since costs were raised at the end of March.

“COVID-19 has been a nightmare for us and the dogs,” Patti Kim, President of Jindo Love Rescue said in a statement sent to WAN. “We had loving homes lined up for this group of dogs in Los Angeles, but we are struggling to get them there due to high cargo costs.”

Not only is the pandemic affecting dogs who are waiting to get to their new homes, but it is also stifling rescuers’ ability to save more of the at-risk animals.

With an estimated 2.5 million dogs raised and brutally butchered for their meat in South Korea every single year, the virus is causing a major problem for rescuers. Costs to care for dogs have continued to mount every day they are delayed, and prevents room from opening up to allow more dogs to be rescued.

As previously reported by WAN, the organizations put out calls seeking volunteer travelers, in addition to seeking donations to help fund the care of stranded dogs and to fly them to their new homes.

There are still more dogs currently waiting to fly to their new homes across the U.S., and many more are available for adoption. Flight volunteers are always needed, and just one volunteer can save two lives. Volunteering to serve as a courier for a rescued dog does not involve much more than allocating some extra time before departing and after arriving. Jindo Love Rescue takes care of all the details, costs, and paperwork for customs beforehand, and adopters will be waiting when volunteer transporters land.

Passengers taking flights any time from Seoul to airports in the U.S., including: Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Hawaii (HNL), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Washington, D.C. (Dulles and IAD), are encouraged to volunteer to fly dogs to their forever homes. In Canada, airports include Toronto (YYZ) and Vancouver (YVR).

More information about how people can get involved can be found HERE!

Please also consider donating to support the rescue, care, and transport of dogs saved from the dog meat trade HERE!