From street to shelter: Seoul city animal centers raise adoption rates for abandoned pets

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From street to shelter: Seoul city animal centers raise adoption rates for abandoned pets

Published: 07 Nov. 2024, 14:26

LEE SOO-JUNG
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Chorong is a rescue dog that was adopted by volunteer Jeong Hye-jin. Left shows when Chorong first arrived at an animal shelter in the summer of 2023 and right shows a recent image of Chorong after being adopted. [JEONG HYE-JIN]

Jeong Hye-jin first met Chorong, a rescue dog that suffered from malnutrition and feared physical touch, while volunteering at a shelter for abandoned pets in downtown Seoul.

Back then, Chorong was scrawny and afraid of humans, urinating whenever volunteers attempted to pat her.

Jeong, 31, started volunteering at the Seoul Animal Care Center as a dog walker after her cat died in September 2023. She couldn't erase Chorong — the dog that would barely walk out of the shelter, unlike other dogs that wagged their tails when seeing people — from her mind. Jeong constantly went back to the shelter again and again.

After three months of volunteer work, Jeong brought Chorong into her family. It was then that Chorong received her name from Jeong, who aimed to start a new and better chapter of life for the dog.

With dedicated care from Jeong and the center, Chorong now weighs around 7.4 kilograms (16.3 pounds). She only weighed 4 kilograms at the time of her rescue.

“Various experiences at the shelter helped me learn about the traits of dogs that I had not known, as I only raised cats before adopting Chorong,” Jeong said, adding that she wants to treat Chorong the best way she can.

A rescue dog receives medical treatment at the Seoul Animal Care Center located in Mapo District, western Seoul. [LEE SU-MIN]

The Seoul Animal Care Center, operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, has been emerging as a new channel for reducing animal euthanasia and fostering the adoption of abandoned pets.

Typically, abandoned pets rescued in the city are transported to large shelters in suburban and provincial regions. The sparsely populated areas have been deemed appropriate for the shelters to avoid people’s complaints about the noise and smell. The locations have, however, made the rescued pets somewhat isolated.

As conventional shelters cannot handle all the incoming rescued pets due to their limitations, they usually conduct euthanasia on the received pets 10 days after posting announcements stating that the animals are eligible for adoption.

Of the 5,176 abandoned pets found in Seoul city last year, 2,181, or 42.1 percent, died or underwent euthanasia at conventional shelters.

Jeong Hye-jin, who adopted Chorong from the Seoul Animal Care Center, poses with the dog. [JEONG HYE-JIN]

However, the Seoul Animal Care Center has taken a different approach from the conventional shelters. It has brought abandoned and rescued pets to the core of the city, not outside the capital. Currently, the center has three branches: one in Mapo, western Seoul; one in Guro, southern Seoul; and one in Dongdaemun, eastern Seoul.

The Seoul Animal Care Center offers medical checkups and grooming services for rescued pets. It also trains them, with the help of volunteers like Jeong, to help them socialize with people and other animals.

“Instead of one large shelter, several small-sized shelters can increase people’s accessibility to rescued animals and become key to increasing adoption rates,” said Bae Jin-seon, head of the animal welfare facility division at the city government. Bae said traumatized pets seem to heal their wounds through spending time with volunteers.

The center’s adoption rate has surpassed 70 percent, far above the average of 30 percent at the conventional shelters outside the metropolitan area. This year, 88 abandoned pets have been adopted from the center’s Sangam branch in Mapo District.

The JoongAng Ilbo visited the Sangam branch on Oct. 31 and said veterinarians and carers were looking after around 20 dogs and cats.

The animals at the branch were receiving grooming services and had their profile pictures taken at a Halloween photo booth, with the photos being used for adoption notices.

Most animals at the center were rescued from animal hoarders’ homes or from the streets. The term "animal hoarders" refers to people who raise an excessive number of pets beyond their ability.

Koh Mi-hee, a 26-year-old volunteer, participates in a dog walking activity with a Pomeranian dog from the Seoul Animal Care Center in Mapo District, western Seoul. [LEE SU-MIN]

Koh Mi-hee, a 26-year-old volunteer who just completed a 40-minute dog walk with a Pomeranian from the center, said that seeing dogs getting happier while sniffing grass makes her feel good.

“I want to adopt a rescued dog if I can afford to do so in the future,” Koh said.

Following the efforts of public organizations, the private sector is also trying to open animal shelters in urban areas.

Another animal adoption center named Balrangdang, which opened in 2021 in Dongdaemun District in eastern Seoul, has been co-funded by the local government and also privately.

On Wednesday, a group of employees from the Financial Supervisory Service volunteered at the Balradang center and took out 14 dogs for walks.

“The center has never received any complaints about noises or anything else,” said Choi Mi-geum, a representative of the Balradang center. “Rather, residents in the neighborhood welcome and warmly greet the rescued dogs from our center.”

Yet, there are certain types of dogs that the center usually accepts. They are aged less than seven and weigh less than 7 kilograms. This leaves mixed breeds and larger dogs still in the bigger conventional shelters that perform euthanasia.

“Although it is meaningful that those small centers focus on adoption, it is crucial to let people access the rescued animals without any bias,” said Lee Hyung-joo, a representative of animal welfare advocacy group AWARE.

BY LEE SU-MIN, LEE SOO-JUNG [[email protected]]