46 dogs, saved from slaughter, arrive in NY from South Korea

A crate holding two puppies rescued from a South Korean dog meat farm are loaded onto an animal transport vehicle near Kennedy Airport by Animal Haven Director of Operations Mantat Wong, left, and volunteer Nicole Smith Sunday, March 26, 2017, in the Queens borough of New York. The Humane Society International is responsible for saving 46 dogs that would otherwise have been slaughtered. Humane Society officials said the dogs that arrived in New York late Saturday night had awaited death in dirty, dark cages, and were fed barely enough to survive at a farm in Goyang, South Korea. (Andrew Kelly/Humane Society International via AP) A crate holding two puppies rescued from a South Korean dog meat farm are loaded onto an animal transport vehicle near Kennedy Airport by Animal Haven Director of Operations Mantat Wong, left, and volunteer Nicole Smith Sunday, March 26, 2017, in the Queens borough of New York. The Humane Society International is responsible for saving 46 dogs that would otherwise have been slaughtered. Humane Society officials said the dogs that arrived in New York late Saturday night had awaited death in dirty, dark cages, and were fed barely enough to survive at a farm in Goyang, South Korea. (Andrew Kelly/Humane Society International via AP)

By Associated Press March 26, 2017 3 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – Forty-six dogs were flown to New York from South Korea after being rescued at a farm where they were to be slaughtered for human consumption, animal advocates said Sunday.

The Humane Society International is responsible for saving the dogs that were fed barely enough to survive.

The animals arrived at Kennedy International Airport late Saturday and were headed to emergency shelters in New York, Maryland and Pennsylvania on Sunday.

The farm in Goyang, a city just north of Seoul, “was more like a dungeon, where there’s very little light, little to no ventilation, so the stench of ammonia would bring tears to your eyes when you walk through,” said Kelly O’Meara, who oversees the society’s companion animal-related international projects. “You’d see eyes peering at you, but it was hard to actually see the dogs themselves in the dark.”

An estimated 17,000 other such farms still operate in South Korea, said O’Meara. However, she said, it’s a diminishing industry in a society where demand for dog meat has been plummeting. However, meat from about 2 million dogs still is eaten there each year.