Articles

Title Category
4 muddy shelter volunteers

Ways to Help Korean Animals

By Karen - 2014-09-10
Wondering what you can do to get involved helping animals in Korea? Here's a short list to get you started: Adopt By choosing to adopt instead of buying from a pet shop or breeder, you give a homeless animal a second chance at happiness. You can also promote adoption by sharing information...
Volunteering

Before You Adopt

By Karen - 2014-07-15
Adoption is a promise to care for an animal for his or her entire lifetime-- when she gets sick, when you change apartments, jobs, or country, when you get married or have kids-- not just while you live in Korea. Before you adopt an animal, please take the time to reflect on your lifestyle and...
Pet Care
Dogs sitting in luggage

Before Rehoming Your Pet

By Karen - 2014-07-15
Some of the most common reasons foreigners in Korea have for giving up a pet include not having enough time, complaints from landlords or neighbours, and the cost of travelling home. Many of these issues can be solved! Before deciding to give up your pet, please consider some of the following...
Animal Issues, Pet Care
Kitten on box

Helping a Stray Cat or Dog

By Karen - 2014-07-15
You're a true life saver if you've brought home a stray cat or dog, preventing harm by car accident, starvation, pregnancy, and other miseries. Not every animal found on the street is abandoned, however. Many cats and dogs are lost by accident, and their guardians will be most grateful if you...
Rescue
Volunteer holding puppy

Alternatives to Adopting a Pet: Ways to Help an Animal If You Can't Provide a Forever Home

By laura910 - 2013-11-21
As someone who has grown up with dogs and cats, I understand the desire of many expats to have a pet. Unfortunately, I also understand that, all too often, the life of an expat living abroad is ever-changing and hard to predict. For that reason, it is important to consider how to get doggy...
Volunteering
TNR poster

Trap-Neuter-Return in Seoul

By kmwg19 - 2013-03-11
This article was compiled by interviewing five women involved in the Korean Government run Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program in Seoul in December, 2012. These women are volunteers, giving their personal time, and often money, to aid the stray cats in their area. How was Seoul’s TNR program...
Rescue, Volunteering
Cat sits in an alley

Rescuing an Animal From the Street

By emmat191 - 2013-03-06
This article gives an overview of options for helping street cats, stray dogs, or abused animals you've observed in your neighbourhood. It is a condensed version of an article originally written for the Korean Animal Protection Society by KAPS volunteer coordinator Emma Thompson, available in...
Rescue
Rabbit and travel carrier

The How-to of Flying Your Pet Rabbit Home

By Guest Contributor - 2012-12-17
(Based on a Korea to Canada Experience) Last summer, my husband and I left Korea to come back to Canada with our two rabbits. It was a bit of a complicated process, but well worth it to make sure our rabbits stayed with us. The following is a bit of a “how-to”, in hopes that some others will...
Pet Travel
Moving boxes, empty shelves and dog

Landlords - Suggestions on How to Deal With Issues

By kmwg19 - 2012-09-07
Landlord issues are sadly common in Korea for those with pets. There are many cases where tenants are allowed to have a pet, then the landlord simply reneges their permission later. Sometimes neighbours complain and the landlord asks you to give up your best friend. The building may change...
Animal Issues, Pet Care
Dog escaping apartment door

Prevent Losing a Pet

By kmwg19 - 2012-07-04
Many people have voiced these precautionary measures as being helpful to their pet's safety. This list was compiled from comments by ARK members on the Facebook page with additional links and thoughts. Hopefully you find these tips helpful and should you have any questions or anything to add,...
Pet Care
Korean lost dog posters

What to Do When You Lose Your Pet

By kmwg19 - 2012-07-01
This list of what do to if you lose your dog or cat in Korea was compiled from advice posted online as well as research. If you have additional tips, please post a comment below so it can be added to the list. Thank you! Begin searching ASAP. Immediately search around your house entirely....
Pet Care
Kitten in litter box

Inappropriate Elimination Is Frustrating!

By Guest Contributor - 2012-06-30
Last year I adopted two stray kittens and I thought, like most people, that cats would naturally gravitate towards the litter box to do their business. Turns out, not all cats have this inclination! After months of cleaning cat urine off bed sheets and bean bag chairs (the latter was less...
Pet Care
Trainer and dog hi-five

A Positive Dog Trainer in Seoul: Karolina Kaminski

By red dog - 2012-06-22
Clare Mills teaches English in Cheonan and volunteers at the Jane World shelter in Asan. When two mixed-breed puppies were found on the grounds of her school—just 10 days old and suffering from hypothermia—she took them home and nursed them back to health. Small Puppy flew to the United...
Pet Care
Yuhaengsa sign

Seeking Happiness for Abandoned Animals: Lucky, Lulu, and the Itaewon Adoption Campaign

By red dog - 2012-04-28
“Here are best friends under mercy killing, TODAY!” “If not adopted, they are killed.” The signs are in English and Korean. A team of Korean volunteers wear bright orange vests—one cuddles a silver schnauzer in her arms and another has a white curly-haired dog in a sling. Medium-sized dogs...
Rescue
Five small white dogs

The Story of a Pet Shop Dog

By jejudogs - 2012-02-18
When you pass by the windows of pet shops and see all the cute little bundles of fur, it really tugs at your heartstrings, doesn't it? They are so cute and small, and you feel the need to love and care for them. It's almost enough to make you consider buying one, "saving" one from a pet store...
Animal Issues
Marmalade cat at a Jeju animal shelter

"Getting Rid Of" a Beloved Pet

By jejudogs - 2012-02-15
A word of advice to those out there who are not able to keep their pets, for whatever reason. Please don't say that you have to "get rid of" your cat or dog, rabbit or hamster, etc. Whenever I first read "get rid of", I don't think of a poor animal that needs a home because of unfortunate or...
Animal Issues
Shih-tzu

The Doggywog Who Touched the Sun: How One Korean Pup Found a New Home in Canada

By Noellepa - 2011-12-14
Oct 12th is the big day. That’s when a lovely sun stained Shih Tzu from South Korea will be coming to my hometown of Nanaimo, B.C. When Sue, a very close family friend, came to visit my parents one night, she very casually mentioned that a friend of hers was constantly trying to find her a...
Volunteering
Chained dog and dog house

Dogs in the Countryside

By Piotr - 2011-12-13
August was quite a humid and warm month in Korea. It was also a very wet month. At times it would rain for a whole week with only a slight pause. Such was the week of August 5th. I joined a friend to visit his family in a remote village surrounded by beautiful, lush mountains and a wild river...
Animal Issues
Homeless dog

Locating the Owner of a Lost Pet

By Guest Contributor - 2011-12-13
Mero in Seoul found a stray in her neighbourhood. She did everything she could to find the owner and was successful after several days of searching. I learned from her story about how to make sure the people claiming to be a lost animal's owners truly are the guardians, rather than frauds....
Pet Care, Rescue
Volunteer holding small dog

Dog Days of Asan: My Experiences as a Volunteer

By Noellepa - 2011-12-11
It was a time unlike any other: my romantic relationship crumbled and then the tsunami hit Japan. Of course, in my mind, external reality merely reflected the turmoil and emotional chaos that was rampaging in my own head. The natural disaster was the macrocosm to my microcosm. And then I...
Volunteering
Three caged dogs

RSPCA in Korea: The Coffee Is Always Waiting

By red dog - 2011-12-09
A friendly 10-year-old spaniel named Sunny is admitted to a shelter. Sunny has sarcoptic mange, but the shelter has no isolation room. A foster family is available, but the family has two young children and a dog who would be at risk. What to do with Sunny? It’s the third and final day of the...
Animal Issues
Korean animal sheltering workshop signboard

RSPCA in Korea: A Surprise Meeting

By red dog - 2011-12-09
Paul Littlefair of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (a charity based in the United Kingdom) is diplomatic when he talks about Korean shelters. In terms of catching, rehoming and adoption, “some places are not doing as well as others.” There’s a need for standards,...
Animal Issues
Book cover

The Silencing of an ‘Eco-terrorist’: How Far Will Authorities Go to Crush Dissent?

By red dog - 2011-12-08
As an undercover investigator on a U.S. fur farm, Rod Coronado had an epiphany that changed his life. He needed footage that would generate negative publicity for the fur industry, and he finally got his chance to film the slaughter and pelting. But to get those images he had to stand by and...
Animal Issues
Chained dog in muddy yard

Korean Phrases for Helping Chained Dogs

By Karen - 2011-12-08
When I see a chained or caged dog these days, I’m no longer surprised. My heart still aches for every one. Luckily, I’ve had the chance to get a couple off their chains, but even if I can’t rescue them all I’d still like to help somehow. Of course I’m not the only person who feels this way....
Rescue
Golden Retriever resting

Heartworms - An Outline on the Disease

By kmwg19 - 2011-12-08
Heartworm is a huge concern for animals, and for those who care for them, here in Korea. The following is a simple outline on heartworm – what it is and how to prevent, treat, and do further research on the disease. I hope you find it helpful. I am writing the following from research and...
Pet Care
Smiling Jindo dog

Korea’s Forgotten National Treasures

By red dog - 2011-12-02
Three years ago a struggling dog rescuer in Daejeon was facing eviction and a dedicated group of volunteers pitched in to help. Active outreach and effective social networking saved the “Daejeon 150,” but eight Jindos from the original group are still waiting for real homes. Six are tethered...
Rescue, Volunteering
Puppy mill in Daejeon

Puppy Mill in Daejeon

By Karen - 2011-12-01
On Friday, April 21st, 2006 I witnessed something that I was unprepared for, a problem I had read about but had not yet seen. As a guardian of a dog I love dearly and an animal lover in general, I feel obligated to share the story despite how much I want to forget. Driving down a country road...
Animal Issues
Example adoption poster

How to Find a Home for a Homeless Animal in Korea

By Karen - 2011-12-01
Whether you're volunteering at a Korean shelter that has dozens of adoptable animals or you've rescued a stray in your neighbourhood and have had no luck finding the owner, this article provides suggestions on how to go about finding a forever home for a homeless animal in Korea. Write a Great...
Rescue
Chained dog

15 Ways to Help a Chained Dog

By Karen - 2011-11-30
You see a dog on your way to work. His collar has been on so long that he has a permanent mark around his neck. His dish is full of spicy-looking leftovers. The chain he’s tied to gives him about 90 cm of territory to jump around in. Perhaps he no longer jumps around, he only sleeps. There’s...
Rescue
Foster kitten

Fostering 101

By Guest Contributor - 2011-11-30
Fostering, or temporarily caring for a homeless pet, is a wonderful way to help Korean animals. It is ideal for expats who cannot adopt animals here but miss their cats/dogs back home. The animal welfare situation in Korea is very poor as cats and some dogs are viewed as vermin or food. This...
Volunteering
Dog crates at Incheon Airport

Air Travel With a Pet

By Karen - 2011-11-29
Travelling with a pet can be easy if you're prepared. Although my experience has been flying with dogs between Canada and Korea, many of the links below and all the basic steps will be useful for other nationals with other types of pets as well. Long Before Your Trip (more than a month) Get a...
Pet Travel