The Dog Meat Trade Sucks

I'm signing petitions!
Specifically, petitions against the dog meat trade in South Korea. (Warning: disturbing images, click link at own risk...do NOT get mad at me if you click that link and cry for many hours, I warned you, OK?)

Basically, there are some countries that slaughter and butcher dogs, and cats, for food.
Now, to say this is "wrong" in a moral sense would be a bit hypocritical of most people.  I myself don't eat most meats, I'll eat seafood, and some poultry, but I don't eat other types of meat.  IF I have an option of not eating any meat at all, I generally do take that option.

BUT, this post isn't about whether or not it's wrong to eat meat... this post is about why these people in South Korea are the biggest assholes on the planet for the way that these dogs are being TREATED.  The point ISN'T about eating them, it's about treating them well during the lives that they do have.
I like to think that most animals in America that are bred for slaughter are treated humanely from the time they're born to the time they're killed.  I know that their lives aren't great... but as far as I know, our animals are generally treated a lot better than the poor dogs in the ominous link above.  I am aware of extreme cases of abuse to livestock in the US, but this is usually done by individuals.  I haven't heard of abuse at such a large scale in the United States except for perhaps puppy mills.  But even then...I don't know.... if you are brave enough to click that link, and you have extensive knowledge of our slaughter houses and puppy mills, then let me know what you think.  I personally think that's pretty damn bad.  It should be noted here that I am purposely comparing the situations for our livestock vs. their dog meat trade because these dogs are livestock to them.  I'm sure some people there do treat dogs very nicely and keep them as pets.  We have people here in the US who keeps cows, pigs and other things as pets too.  But we're talking on general terms here,  thus I'm comparing American livestock to South Korea's dog meat trade.

Over 2 million dogs are brutally killed in South Korea every year, and are raised in what I can only describe as HELL.  The conditions these poor souls are raised in are disgusting, unhealthy, and horrible.  I don't actually understand how human beings can stomach eating an animal that is raised in such a horrible and disgusting environment.  I doubt that can be healthy for the people.  But, what do I know, I'm not a sanitary environment official here.

The thing about dogs is they are very social, very domesticated animals.  They love people, even dogs that don't like people in general love their owner.  It saddens me deeply to see the animal that human beings are probably the most bonded with as a species overall treated this way.  It would upset me if it was cows, or horses, etc.  But dogs?  It just hits me pretty hard, and I find it heartbreaking.  Honestly, how can you call yourself a human being and then turn around and do this to man's best friend?!

If you are interested in signing the petitions that are out to try to put a stop to this, I will link to them below.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/stop-the-dog-meat-trade-in-korea/
https://secure2.convio.net/ida/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1533
http://www.uniteddogs.com/stopkillingdogs/
http://www.change.org/petitions/enforce-the-ban-on-dog-cat-meat-in-s-korea

Note: I do not have more information on this than what is linked here, I knew about the dog meat trade in China and Thailand, this is the first time I saw anything about it in South Korea.  I imagine it's quite prevalent in a lot of countries but it seems to be an underground practice.