반려동물
Nowadays, a lot of people live with an animal and they are called the pet family, generally shortened to ‘petfam’ which is the new word that means people treat their pets as their family members. According to the survey result conducted by the Korean Consumer Agency in 2014, about 17.4 percent of Korean population, almost 10 million people are living with animals. Most of them think of their animals as members of the family. Public attitudes towards the animals have changed, and the number of people who regard their animals as their companion or family member not just pets is increasing. However, as the number of people living with animals increases, abandoned animals have increased and it is becoming a social problem in the nation.
Public Attitudes towards Animals
Some scholars claim pets should be renamed ‘companions’ or ‘companion animals’. Konrad Zacharias Lorenz, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973, first used these terms at the global symposium about the human-pet relationship in Vienna, Austria. With the academic trend, ordinary people’s attitudes towards animals have changed as time goes by. They just regarded the animals as nothing serious but living creatures in the zoo. But now people consider the animals as family members who are loving and faithful.
The survey result aforementioned showed 97.2 percent of respondents said that living with animals is beneficial to their life because they make people happy. Moreover, when they are sick, people bring their animals to an animal hospital and even more, they look after their animals just like parents take care their children when they are sick. An owner of a pet café near CNU said, “Actually I opened a pet café because I love animals. I do not run a pet café to make money. Nowadays, there are only a few places to play with the companion animals so I hope that more people visit my pet café and spend time with lovely animals.” We have plenty of chances to meet animals. You can find pet cafés on the street because of the growing animal-related business.
Living with Companion Animals
At CNU, there are a lot of students who think of companion animals as their family. They love to stay with animals and to spend time with them. Ban Jae-min (Sophomore, Dept. of English Language Education) raised a dog called ‘Poppy’. She said, “Whenever I come home, the first family member who welcomes me with a loud voice is not a person, but a dog.” She treated the dog as her younger sister. She added she got the dog after she finished the College Scholastic Ability Test two years ago, at that time she was so depressed about her test score and her father was worried about her and adopted ‘Poppy’ to change the silent atmosphere of their home to be more cheerful and lively. Park Kyeong-seo (Sophomore, Dept. of Energy and Resources Engineering) lives with a cat called ‘Kanchyo’ because she wants an animal which always greet her at home. She said, “Living a cat is really good because the cat is really cute and charming.” She added that she cannot communicate well with the cat but she loves it because her cat follows her well and looks like a baby.
Besides a dog or a cat, some students like to have unique animals. Kim Gyeong-mi (Freshman, School of Electronics and Computers Engineering) has a hedgehog that her cousin gave to her. She said, “Raising the hedgehog is a little bit difficult because of his pungent smell and there is less communication with it compared with dogs and cats. Even with these disadvantages, however, the hedgehog makes me happy, so I do not regret having it.” She added that the hedgehog is cute and lovely. Kim You-seok (Sophomore, Dept. of Bio-systems and Agriculture Engineering) has five snakes at his room. He has been raising snakes since he was 17 years old. Snakes are fantastic but not many people like them. Many people think snakes are dangerous, but they could be very good pets because they can be tamed with regular handling. “Snakes are cute, really attractive and I’d like to have more snakes. I think that having a unique pet is very special,” he said.
Abandoned Animals Growing Problem
Companion animals have become a serious social problem in Korean society. Some people are throwing animals they live with away like old shoes. According to data released from an organization in 2012, animal protection groups figured out that almost one hundred thousand companion animals are abandoned each year. One of the main reasons is that when certain animals appeared on TV shows, people were attracted by the specific breed of the dogs and started to buy them. Shim Chi-jung (Senior, Dept. of Energy and Resource Engineering) said “By watching TV programs, people buy the animals because they are cute and charming. I think the most important part of raising companion animals is responsibility. People have to think of companion animals as members of their family. Even though the animal gets old or sick, they still have to keep them like a family member.” Unfortunately, a lot of animal factories are built to produce pets like goods.
To solve the problem of abandoned animals, Ahn Jae-hun (Junior, Dept. of Veterinary Medicine) emphasized that the government needs to enforce a law that requires people to microchip their dog or cat and people have to change their mind and be responsible for raising or living with animals. A citizen who visited the Gwangju Animal Protection Center to adopt a dog said, “I am really sad about these abandoned animals and I do not understand why people throw these cute animals away. Such people should not have raised them from the first place. In my opinion, the administration should set rules to punish these irresponsible people.” Shin Hye-min (Senior, Dept. of Anthropology) also said, “Living with a dog, I feel responsible for my dog. In my opinion, the number of neglected or abandoned animals is increasing because many people lack of respect and responsibility for their animals. Before deciding to raise animals, people have to think about it more carefully.”
Animal Rights: Making Life Better for Animals
Living with companion animals can provide a positive effect on human life. They make people feel comfortable and are friends with them. However, due to an increasing number of abandoned animals and animal factories, they are starting to cause social problems. Kang Seong-soo (Professor, Dept. of Veterinary Medicine) said, "A pet animal means 'a lovely animal that please you', while 'a companion animal’ is more like 'a family member that shares life with you'." In Korea, the demand on companion animals is rising but the concept of animal abuse is vague since there are no related laws, regulations or guidance to protect them. Also, people who own a pet more than three months should register their pets as it has been regulated from January 1st, 2014. But the registration rate is disappointing and the number of abandoned pets over the previous years is growing. "It is necessary to form a social consensus that people treat animals as a life companion in order to decrease abandoned animal issues in our society," he added.
With raising awareness about companion animals, we need to make a law for animal welfare or animal rights. The government announced a new policy related to animal welfare early this year to make a better life for companion animals. Hopefully, companion animal-related problems will decrease.
By Choi Su-in, Tribune Reporter