The following interview was conducted in October 2019 by C. Nilsson of Save Animals Worldwide with Naotoshi Kitada, the Director and cameraman on the 2018 documentary film Asian Dog Meat Report, about the dog and cat meat trade in Asia.  The documentary focuses on South Korea, China, and Japan, with several brief comments about Vietnam.  The picture (above) is from the website http://www.adg-theater.com/asiandogs/english/, where the documentary can be viewed in its entirety.

October 1, 2019

C. Nilsson: I would like to thank you, Mr. Kitada, for making the 2018 documentary film Asian Dog Meat Report, about the dog and cat meat trade in South Korea, China, and Japan, with a brief mention of Vietnam. Although it is very hard to watch some segments because of the inhumane treatment and brutality inflicted on the animals, people need to see the horrible reality of the situation for the dogs and cats in the meat trade.  Thank you for the very poignant ending to your film as Ms. Yang in China strokes the head of an emaciated dog and says “I will bring you food soon, I won’t hurt you, I know you had a long rough journey, you are home now.”  Your documentary has further strengthened my commitment to save dogs and cats from the meat trade.

Reason for the documentary film

C. Nilsson: Can you begin by explaining why you made the 2018 documentary film Asian Dog Meat Report?

Naotoshi Kitada:  During the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, I started using social media to collect information to cover the countless animals left behind in highly-contaminated warning areas.  By the summer of 2012, I discovered through Facebook and was shocked by the image of a dog being boiled alive.  Ever since then, I’ve been suffering from nightmares.  I continued to look for what I could do and found a way by making this documentary.  More information about why I made the documentary can be seen at the ADG Ethics website at http://www.adg-theater.com/asiandogs/english.

Countries involved in the dog and cat meat trade

C. Nilsson: The documentary covers the slaughter and human consumption of dogs and cats in South Korea, China, Japan, and briefly mentions Vietnam. South Korea, China, and Vietnam slaughter millions of dogs and cats for their meat. Japan imports dog and cat meat from China and Vietnam. Are you familiar with any other areas where the dog and cat meat trade occurs?

Naotoshi Kitada:  I know there are dog and cat meat trades in other countries, but my budget is limited and I was only able to cover Japan, China, and South Korea.

Numbers of dogs and cats slaughtered for human consumption in the meat trade

C. Nilsson: Humane Society International estimates that 30 million dogs and 10 million cats are slaughtered for the meat trade each year across Asia (https://www.hsi.org/issues/dog-meat-trade/). Have you seen an increase or decrease in these numbers?

Naotoshi Kitada:  More than 30 million dogs and 10 million cats are slaughtered every year.  It’s an appalling number.  In interviews in China, we have confirmed the existence of many dog slaughterhouses.  Of course, there are also many dog lovers in China.  However, the brutality of dog meat traders began to be exposed on Chinese social networks (WeChat and Weibo), and until a few years ago, people were free to enter the dog slaughterhouses.  But as of 2017, when I interviewed them, no one was allowed to go inside.  The dog slaughterhouses are not authorized.  If they are reported, they will be caught.  I learned the slaughterhouses are playing weasel between the activists and the dog meat traders.

Sources of dogs and cats slaughtered for the meat trade (meat farms, pets sold to meat trade, pets stolen for meat trade)

C. Nilsson: South Korea is the only country that recognizes the farming and breeding of dogs for human consumption as an industry. There are over 17,000 dog meat farms in South Korea. Animal rescue organizations are trying to shut them down. Has there been a significant decline in the number of dog meat farms in South Korea since you made the documentary?

Naotoshi Kitada:  There is an unprecedented pet boom in Korea.  There is a widespread recognition that dogs and cats are companion animals.  I want to believe the number of dog farms is decreasing little by little.

C. Nilsson: Dog meat suppliers in South Korea put out advertisements to buy dogs. People sell their dogs to meat suppliers after seeing these advertisements, and many know the dogs will be slaughtered for human consumption.  On the other hand, other people do not realize the advertisements were put out by dog meat suppliers, and they unknowingly sell their dogs unaware the dogs will be slaughtered for their meat.  Is the existence of these advertisements being made public to warn people not to sell their dogs to meat suppliers?

Naotoshi Kitada:  A person with low consciousness abandons the pet dog.  I don’t think they care.  Unfortunately, I don’t think there is any warning about the advertisements.

C. Nilsson: There is a huge number of pets being stolen in China for the meat trade. Does pet theft continue to increase in China?

Naotoshi Kitada:  I think so, in some parts.  I heard the World Dog Alliance investigated China about dog thieves.

C. Nilsson: The activist from Koreandogs.org talked about how there are no laws in Vietnam to protect animals. Thieves in Vietnam frequently steal people’s pets to sell to the dog meat trade, often using motorcycles to steal them.  Sometimes the dog thieves are murdered when they are found trying to steal people’s dogs.  Are officials trying to stop the theft of pets in Vietnam?

Naotoshi Kitada:  I have seen the news in Japan which said that Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, would ban all dog and cat meat by 2021.

C. Nilsson: Japan imports most of its dog and cat meat. House dogs and stray dogs were widely slaughtered and eaten in the countryside of Japan up until about 1985. Some Japanese people were engaged in fighting dogs against each other and they would eat the dogs that lost the fights. They ate cats in past years.  Some dogs were brutally killed, such as being skinned alive.  One of the people interviewed for the documentary said he remembered a story of a dog being skinned alive but the dog escaped to the mountains.  Are dogs and cats still slaughtered for their meat in the countryside of Japan?

Naotoshi Kitada: I do not know if people are killing dogs to eat in Japan now.  However, we have heard rumors that people in some areas eat losing fighting dogs.

C. Nilsson: The documentary shows a conversation between an activist and a representative from the Japanese government agency responsible for the importation of dog and cat meat into Japan. The activist told the representative that microchipped dogs are slaughtered for the meat trade, and the representative said she didn’t personally see any difference or understand the importance between dogs with or without microchips.   Has anything been done to highlight the fact dogs with microchips are most likely someone’s pet, probably a stolen pet?   Are the Japanese people aware the dog meat they are eating could be from someone’s pet?

Naotoshi Kitada:  Japanese import administration officials do not know that dog meat coming from overseas is mixed with pet dogs.  More than 95% of Japanese people do not know of the existence of dog meat.

Brutality in the dog and cat meat trade

C. Nilsson: The documentary shows some very graphic segments of dogs being stabbed while they are piled on top of each other in cramped cages, boiled alive, blow-torched alive, and beaten to death. Restaurants electrocute dogs and the dogs frequently suffer for a long time.  Although the film did not include the other forms of torture that occur in the dog and cat meat industry, it has been widely documented that dogs and cats are skinned alive, their feet or legs are cut off while they are alive, they are cut up while alive, their throats are slit while alive then they are beaten to death, they are stabbed (repeatedly) to death, they are cooked alive over an open flame, cats are put in pressure cookers while alive, and other acts of torture.  How common and widespread is it for dogs and cats to be tortured for their meat?  Are China, South Korea, and Vietnam the only countries that torture dogs and cats for their meat?

Naotoshi Kitada:  I think torture is still taking place in China without animal protection laws.  They’re also being tortured in South Korea.  I think there are many other countries that torture dogs and cats for their meat.

(Note: The torturers and consumers of dog and cat meat believe the adrenaline that is released in the bodies of the dogs and cats during torture makes the meat healthier and taste better.)

Dog meat farms

C. Nilsson: Activists in the documentary go to a dog meat farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea. The dogs live in filthy conditions.  The dog farm stinks and there is feces and urine everywhere.  The dog farmer feeds the dogs rotten human garbage.  There is no roof on some of the cages, exposing the dogs to extreme heat and cold, and other bad weather conditions.  One of the activists called a representative at the Environmental Sanitation Division in Yongin, Gyeonggi-Do, about the conditions at the dog meat farm.  (Note: The Environmental Sanitation Division is responsible for monitoring facilities for violations of sanitation and environmental regulations.)  The activist asked the representative if anyone from the agency went to the dog meat farm to investigate the conditions there.  The representative said the agency can’t investigate all the dog meat farms because the areas they cover are too large.  The activist told the representative that he (representative) is getting paid with public tax dollars, but is just making excuses, and asked why he was so “weak-kneed” on the matter.  The activist then told the representative the farm was disgusting and the dog farmer uses more than the standard amount of antibiotics and growth hormones on the dogs.  The activist said the public is eating the dogs thinking the meat is healthy, without the knowledge the dogs are being kept that way.  The dog meat farm is very profitable.  A worker at the farm said it is owned by a couple in their 70’s who are very wealthy because they make a lot of money selling dogs to be slaughtered during the Boknal Festival in South Korea.  Do you know if anything was done about this dog meat farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea?

Naotoshi Kitada:  We haven’t tracked it down, however, there are an infinite number of poor dog breeding facilities in Korea.  I wanted to film everything I could.  We had a small budget.  The cost of making this movie is only $70,000.

C. Nilsson: One of the neighbors near another dog meat farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea, said the smell is very bad in the summer and it is very noisy, but he did not make any complaints because he didn’t want to be a bad neighbor. He said the problems on the dog meat farm have been going on for years, but as long as the South Korean media doesn’t report the truth about what is happening at the dog meat farms, the South Korean government won’t take any action against the dog meat farmers.  He said that even if the foreign media reports what is happening, the South Korean government won’t do anything.  Has the South Korean government started to respond to any of the complaints, especially because of your documentary and the other broadcasts of this situation?

Naotoshi Kitada:  No, not at all.

C. Nilsson: In the documentary, you introduced us to Ms. Nami Kim, from South Korea. Ms. Kim rescues dogs and has sent over 1,150 dogs to the United States and Canada for adoption, and 15 dogs to the United Kingdom as of the date of the documentary. Her family has always loved dogs, and she is heartbroken and embarrassed about the dog and cat meat trade in South Korea.  She has seen the slaughter of dogs even as a young girl.  She started rescuing dogs from the meat trade after witnessing them being killed in public at meat markets and restaurants.  She was part of an investigation at a dog meat farm where the dogs were being kept in deplorable conditions and were treated inhumanely.  During the investigation at the farm, the owner said he wanted Ms. Kim to kill him so the dogs would be safe.   When she refused his request to kill him, he hung a live dog, cut open its stomach, tore out its internal organs, and fed the dog’s organs to other dogs in front of Ms. Kim.  Dogs are considered livestock in South Korea, so Ms. Kim’s complaint against the dog farmer had to be for violations of environmental regulations, such as water pollution and the method the farmer used to treat the dog’s excrement.  She said over 17,000 dog farms exist in South Korea, with over 2,000 breeding dogs without permission.  Ms. Kim wants the South Korean government to remove dogs from the livestock list.   Has South Korea done anything to take dogs and cats off the livestock list?

Naotoshi Kitada:  Unlike China, there is an animal protection law in South Korea.  But at the same time, dogs belong to livestock as you say, so they are chaotic in Korea.

(Note: According to the World Dog Alliance website article in May 2018, https://www.worlddogalliance.org/congressman-proposes-to-exclude-dog-as-livestock/, a South Korean congressman proposed an amendment to exclude dogs from the livestock list.  No update was given as of March 2020.)

Transport trucks in the dog and cat meat trade

C. Nilsson: Dogs suffer in horrible conditions and die in large numbers on transport trucks headed for slaughterhouses in Asia. The dogs are often dehydrated, sick, severely injured, and dying by the time they reach the slaughterhouses.  Many dogs are already dead.  Are the drivers of these trucks being arrested when they are stopped by police (or by activists who call police)?

Naotoshi Kitada:  On suspicion of not having a quarantine certificate, the driver will be detained but will be fined and released immediately.  It is not a violation of a law, but a violation of an ordinance.

Slaughterhouses in the dog and cat meat trade

C. Nilsson: Dog slaughterhouses in China do not have licenses to operate because the dogs do not get a quarantine inspection, so it is actually illegal to buy and sell dogs for their meat in China. Many of the slaughterhouses in China only pay a fine for violations of Food Hygiene Regulations if they are caught killing dogs.  There is no real punishment to stop the slaughterhouses from operating in China.  A woman who lives near a slaughterhouse in Changchun City, China, said that one or two trucks with piles of dogs on them pass near her house going to the slaughterhouse every day.  She said she can hear them crying and feels sorry for them.  The slaughterhouse operates in plain view and is widely known in the neighborhood.  Why don’t Chinese authorities shut down slaughterhouses and prosecute the owners and operators of slaughterhouses if they are not legal in China?

Naotoshi Kitada:  Because it is only a prosecuted, abbreviated indictment.

C. Nilsson: Some slaughterhouses, like the one in Changchun City, China, mentioned in the previous question, continue to operate for long periods of time without interference, while others are shut down. Activists in the documentary tried to locate a certain slaughterhouse in Changchun City, China, but a man told them the slaughterhouse had been “betrayed” and was closed for regulation violations about a year before.  The man also told them he heard the slaughterhouse started business again somewhere in the same area, but he didn’t know where.  Are Chinese officials doing anything to prevent slaughterhouses from moving to a different location after they are shut down?

Naotoshi Kitada:  The slaughterhouses will change places and resume operations.  It is a weasel play.  The Chinese government has developed economically in recent years.  However, the rights and welfare of animals are left behind.

Meat markets in the dog and cat meat trade

C. Nilsson: One of the meat marketers at the Moran Market in Seongnam, South Korea, told the undercover activists he had live dogs for sale and dog meat too. He showed the activists live dogs in a cage and another cage that contained live puppies, and said “we slaughter and dismantle here to appeal to freshness.”   A second meat marketer said she had just killed dogs and the meat was fresh.  Several other meat marketers then said “they are foreigners, be careful,” and then “there is nothing to say” and “there is no dog meat here.”  The undercover activists were told to go away.  A meat marketer at another market told the activist that if he picked a dog, he (the meat marketer) would slaughter the dog for meat right away.  He said he charged $40 to $50 for one leg and said it is cheaper to buy a whole dog than buying 4 legs.  Another meat marketer picked up a dead dog and told the activists it costs $130 and was more expensive than other dogs because it was a Korean native dog.  There were many live dogs in cages throughout the meat market.  A video of a meat market in Kyoungdong Market in Seoul, South Korea, showed a woman meat marketer asking the undercover activists what they were doing there and she said they looked suspicious.  A second woman meat marketer said she was killing and selling dogs in secret because it is an ordinance violation and she would be fined if it was found.  Why aren’t South Korean authorities stopping this activity at meat markets in South Korea?

Naotoshi Kitada:  For Korea today, the dog meat problem is in a transitional period.  President Moon Jae-in, the mayor Seoul, and some members of the Diet have expressed their opposition to the dog meat practice, but they have no compulsion.

C. Nilsson: The meat marketers at the Moran Market in South Korea told the activists not to film the market because it was illegal. The meat marketers said they were going to call the police if the activists didn’t stop filming.  One of the meat marketers said “the image of dog meat is bad and has become an international problem now, so if we are widely known to the world by the film, our situation will become worse.”  Although the meat marketers picked up their phones and appeared to call the police, the police never arrived.  The activists left the market after they were repeatedly told by the meat marketers to go away.  Has the filming of these meat markets actually hurt business for the meat marketers?  Have some of the meat marketers stopped selling dog meat?

Naotoshi Kitada:  The movie shows only part of it.  I was there 20 to 25 minutes, but the police didn’t show up.  An employee of the dog meat shop appealed to us to understand the worsening situation surrounding dog meat.  If you continue to protest in front of a dog meat shop every day, the dog meat shop will be exhausted, and you will be able to drive the store to close.  However, it is also true that they also have families and have a life as a matter of course.  The number of stores has definitely decreased.

C. Nilsson: There was a poster of a missing dog right next to the Moran Market in South Korea where dogs are slaughtered and the meat is sold. Do you know if people ever find their pets at the meat markets?

Naotoshi Kitada:  I don’t know.  In 2017, when this movie was shot, there were live dogs in the markets.  Today only meat is sold and the slaughter is done elsewhere.  The government might have considered it so as not to provoke the activists.

C. Nilsson: One of the cameramen almost had his camera destroyed by a meat marketer in China because cameras are not welcome at the meat markets there. Several cameramen left the market to go back to their hotel, but they were followed by several men, with guns, to their hotel in China. The cameramen said the men were guards from the meat dealers.  The guards from the meat dealers came into the hotel and watched the cameramen. The hotel then asked the cameramen to move to another hotel. Are activists still being harassed by the meat industry?  Are activists still being turned away by hotels (or any other businesses) because of their activities to save the dogs and cats from the meat industry?

Naotoshi Kitada:  I don’t know how, but I’m sure they are being harassed.

C. Nilsson: Do police make it difficult for activists to film and ask questions at dog and cat meat markets? Do the police take the side of the meat marketers, letting them continue their activities without consequences?

Naotoshi Kitada:  Yes, they do.  They think their role is over when the activists are gone.  As an aside, last year I covered a demonstration against dolphin hunting in Taiji town in Wakayama Prefecture.  I recorded the police in conversation with local fisherman blaming the opposition.  I was angry that the police were not in a neutral position, but I didn’t say anything because my work was to record everything.

C. Nilsson: The documentary includes an interview with an undercover activist in South Korea who investigates dog meat farms. He also leads the media to dog meat farms, dog meat slaughterhouses, dog meat markets, and restaurants that serve dog meat.  He tries to blend in, but his undercover activism is still dangerous.  Are undercover activists being arrested?

Naotoshi Kitada:  There seems to be lawsuits for trespassing on the dog breeding places and taking away the dogs, etc.  But I’ve never heard of an activist being arrested.

Festivals in the dog and cat meat trade

C. Nilsson: South Korean protestors said 1,500,000 dogs are killed for the Boknal Festival in South Korea each year. The protestors said the dog eating practice is causing conflicts among the people of South Korea.  The protestors said the “bad practice” of the Boknal Festival (eating dogs) came from China.  Now that there is worldwide outrage over this festival, has the Boknal Festival changed as far as its size and amount of customers?

Naotoshi Kitada:  Korean Boknal is not so much a festival.  It seems to be a custom to eat dog meat all over Korea under the slogan of trying to survive the hot summer.  It is not like a festival in China.  However, I understand that the scale of dog eating is shrinking, especially among the younger generation.

C. Nilsson: The elderly couple with the dog meat farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi-Do, South Korea, mentioned earlier in the interview, made around $95,000 in one summer during the Boknal Festival by selling dogs for the festival. Are dog meat farmers in South Korea still making huge profits from the sale of dogs for the Boknal Festival?

Naotoshi Kitada:  We see articles on dog farms and slaughterhouses that have been forced to close due to activists’ efforts.  Even in Korea, the dog meat industry may continue to decline, but there are still people who want to eat dogs, so there will still be a big benefit.

C. Nilsson: More than 10,000 dogs are slaughtered as part of the annual Yulin Meat Festival in China. The Chinese government does not officially sanction the festival, but it allows the festival to operate.  Has the Chinese government done anything to shut down the Yulin Meat Festival?  If so, do you have any information to indicate the festival will be allowed to move to another location and operate, as long as it is done out of public view?

Naotoshi Kitada:  The Chinese government has officially denied the dog meat festival to foreign countries.  Since then, the Chinese government has asked the local government of Yulin Autonomous Region to refrain from the dog meat festival.  Until then, there was a scene where live dogs were slaughtered and bought and sold on the street.  Therefore, the current Yulin dog meat festival is a dog meat festival that has turned underground.  We got information that dogs were still slaughtered on the streets in a certain area of Henan Province, but we were unable to cover them due to budget and time.  I’m sorry for that.  Yulin in China is nervous about overseas coverage.  In restaurant signs and menus, the character of “dog meat” is hidden.  However, during the dog meat festival, many people gather in Yulin from the provinces and the hotel is full and the room fee is also more expensive.  I can’t say the trade is allowed.  Chinese authorities do not recognize the existence of dog meat festivals internationally.  Therefore, in the autonomous region formed by the ethnic minority of the Chiwan family other than the Han family, the Chinese authorities cannot forcibly abolish the dog meat festival.  I interviewed someone in the Security Police Department at Yulin, but deleted it from the film to protect this person.  Like Hong Kong’s criminal extradition ordinance, which is now a hot topic, the person I interviewed from the Security Police Department at Yulin expressed the agony between an invisible pressure from the Chinese government authorities and people who are looking forward to the dog meat festival.

C. Nilsson: People film the Yulin Meat Festival in China, but police are everywhere and tell them not to film or do interviews at the festival. The police tell them foreigners are not welcome.  Is it legal for police in China to do this and do police continue to prevent activists from filming and interviewing people at the Yulin Meat Festival?

Naotoshi Kitada:  I do not know if it is legal or not.  As I mentioned before, Yulin’s local police are in between the Chinese government’s official announcement to the international community that there is no dog meat festival in China and with local citizens who look forward to the dog meat festival each year.  What the police fear most is there will be violence between foreign journalists and local people.  At 8 p.m. the night before the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, about 10 local police surrounded me in my hotel room.  I was prepared to be arrested, but at the same time, I was expecting that if it developed into an international issue, the Yulin Dog Meat Festival would be news in Japan.  Of course, there was also the resignation that if arrested, I would not be able to return to Japan for about 10 years on espionage charges.

C. Nilsson: The activists get inadequate or no responses from government officials who can stop the dog and cat meat festivals. Have any government officials permanently shut down any festivals?

Naotoshi Kitada:  I read an article in Jinhua, China, where the dog meat festival there has been cancelled since 2011, but there are several other dog meat festivals in China.  However, I heard the locals near Nanning International Airport say that only the Yulin Dog Meat Festival has become famous.