Jeonbuk Province to Invest 16.9 Billion Won in Strengthening Animal Protection and Welfare

Expansion of Animal Welfare Infrastructure
Support for Ending Dog Meat Consumption

Jeonbuk Autonomous Province will invest a total of 16.9 billion KRW in 2025 to strengthen animal protection and welfare.

The province plans to expand spaces where residents can be with their companion animals, enhance the protection and safety management of abandoned animals, and actively promote support projects to end dog meat consumption.

Jeonbuk Provincial Government Building.

This policy will focus on 14 projects in three key areas: ▲Expansion of animal welfare infrastructure (3.4 billion KRW), ▲Strengthening animal protection and safety management (4.6 billion KRW), and ▲Support for ending dog meat consumption (8.9 billion KRW).

As the number of households raising companion animals increases, spaces where residents can freely enjoy time with their pets will be expanded. By next year, Jeonbuk Autonomous Province will newly establish a 'Companion Animal Leisure Camping Site' in Gochang-gun, following Imsil-gun, and increase the number of companion animal playgrounds from five to eight.

To improve the welfare of protected animals, the province will support the construction of new animal protection centers in Jangsu-gun and Imsil-gun, where existing facilities are operated directly and are in poor condition. In addition, as the private animal protection facility reporting system expands to include facilities with 100 or more protected animals, environmental improvement projects will be promoted to ensure smooth implementation of the reporting system.

Measures will also be established to prevent the occurrence of lost or abandoned animals and to raise the level of protection. The province will expand support for embedded animal registration to activate the registration system, and will support vaccination, neutering, and disease diagnosis costs for those adopting abandoned animals, fostering a culture of responsible adoption.

The neutering project for controlling the stray cat population will be further supported, and neutering surgeries for outdoor dogs in rural areas will also be provided to prevent indiscriminate breeding of yard dogs, which is common in farming regions.

In addition, through consulting support for animal welfare-certified livestock farms?which rank first nationwide with 146 out of 481 farms certified?the province will help ensure safe livestock production. Ongoing support will also be provided to ensure the stable settlement of the dangerous dog breeding permit system and temperament evaluation system for the safe management of companion dogs.

The province plans to actively promote support projects to end dog meat consumption in accordance with the Dog Meat Consumption Ban Act, which was announced on February 6 last year. By supporting the closure or conversion of dog farms, slaughterhouses, and distributors, the province aims to accelerate the early end of dog meat consumption and promote a shift in perception toward animal welfare.

Choi Jaeyong, Director of the Agricultural Life and Livestock Industry Bureau of the province, stated, "This year as well, we will steadily implement various animal protection and welfare projects to create a society where people and animals can be happy together," adding, "We will continue to promote comprehensive measures such as ending dog meat consumption, supporting the protection and adoption of abandoned animals, and expanding companion animal culture."