Pilot Operation of 'Balladang Adoption Cafe' in Urban Areas through Public-Private Cooperation
Significant Decrease in Abandoned Animals over 3 Years, Euthanasia Rate Drops from 24.3% in 2018 to 16.1% in 2020
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 17th, Seoul City announced that it will pilot operate an ‘adoption cafe in the city’ that breaks away from distant protection facilities to spread the adoption of abandoned animals, and strengthen the ‘temporary home care’ of abandoned animals to increase the adoption rate.
Seoul City, together with the organization ‘Happy World with Animals,’ leased a closed dog cafe in Dongdaemun-gu last April to create an abandoned animal adoption center for the protection and adoption consultation of abandoned animals. This animal protection facility is pilot operated as the ‘Balladang Adoption Cafe,’ a ‘city adoption center for abandoned animals’ close to citizens.
The Balladang Adoption Cafe is available to any citizen who wants to meet abandoned animals. On the third Saturday of every month, a small-scale adoption party is held for local residents while complying with quarantine rules. Various adoption activities such as bazaars and walking events are conducted to improve prejudice against abandoned animals. For more details, please contact the Balladang Adoption Cafe.
Considering that the animal protection centers of autonomous districts are currently entrusted and operated in distant facilities due to the nature of the facilities, Seoul plans to expand the contact points between citizens and abandoned animals through pilot operation of adoption centers in the city by the end of this year. It is also expected to have a positive impact on improving awareness of existing urban protection facilities such as the Seoul Animal Welfare Support Center and Gangdong Reborn Center.
In addition, Seoul City will strengthen the ‘temporary home care system,’ which temporarily shelters abandoned animals in the homes of citizen volunteers and conducts adoption activities. Since 2019, the city has been conducting a temporary care project for abandoned animals, achieving the result that a total of 258 abandoned animals were adopted into other homes without being euthanized.
This year, Seoul City and four animal protection organizations will carry out the project through public-private cooperation. In addition, an abandoned animal adoption promotion campaign will be continuously conducted so that many citizens can easily access information on abandoned animal adoption. Seoul City has supported services such as health checkups before adoption, neutering surgery, animal insurance enrollment after adoption, and animal education before and after adoption to ensure that citizens can adopt abandoned animals with confidence. As a result, the proportion of abandoned animals adopted into homes among all abandoned animals slightly increased from 32% in 2018 to 36.4% in 2020, and the euthanasia rate significantly decreased from 24.3% in 2018 to 16.1% in 2020.
Furthermore, Seoul City plans to continuously expand autonomous district abandoned animal adoption centers to revitalize adoption and strengthen cooperation with animal protection organizations to discover various projects for abandoned animal adoption.
Park Yu-mi, Director of the Seoul City Citizen Health Bureau, said, “The number of abandoned animals in Seoul is about 6,300 as of this year, which is about 1,800 fewer than in 2018, but still 16% of animals are euthanized. Seoul City will continue to actively strive to promote abandoned animal adoption by promoting adoption support facilities and various public-private cooperation projects.”
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