Maltese ’88-3′ was moved to the first glass display case at a pet shop in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do, shortly after winning a bid of $300,000 at an auction in Daejeon on April 4. When I visited the pet shop on the 12th, I found ’88-3′ for sale for 550,000 won with a piece of paper that read ‘Maltese, male, born March 5, 1st vaccination’. It’s a bargain compared to the 1 million won for a cream poodle on the third shelf next door. The seller, Kim Mo, said, “I don’t have a pretty face. It also has an umbilical hernia, so it’s not a good product,” said Kim. ’88-3′ was sold to a woman in her 40s two days later on April 14. She was only two months old when she found her new family.
Maltese ’88-3′ is displayed at a pet shop in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 11, after winning the auction at Daejeon Auction House on Nov. 4. ’88-3′ was sold for 300,000 won, cheaper than other Maltese because of its “pale nose color and strabismus”. It was sold at a pet shop for 550,000 won. Seongbae Son Reporter
If breeding centers are the “factories” for mass production of dogs and auction houses are the “hubs” for distribution, pet shops are the nexus of the mass production and mass distribution system. There was a time when you had to go to Chungmuro Dog Street to get a dog in Seoul. Until the early 2000s, more than 40 pet shops surrounded the area around the Chungmuro Korean Theater. Now, however, the area has declined to the point where only five are left. This is because pet shops have become more common and widespread as the number of households with dogs has increased. National chains such as Dogmaru have also emerged. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, there were a total of 20,685 pet-related businesses, including sales and grooming, and 24,863 workers nationwide in 2021, up 7.3 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, from the previous year.
Graphic=Younghee Kim 02@joongang.co.kr
Graphic by Younghee Kim 02@joongang.co.kr
Passing by a pet shop in Mapo-gu, Seoul, Ms. Choi, 41, said, “They were lying on the futon as if they wanted to see me. I stopped in my tracks because they were so cute.” The seller took the two puppies out and put them on the floor, saying, “Their walks are different. The expensive one has a shorter body and shorter legs, so it’s more like a pomeranian. If you go to the Gangnam area, you can get at least 5 million won.”
There are not a few people who are mesmerized by the cuteness of the puppies in the showroom and buy them without a plan. Hwang Mo, 40, who owns two poodles, said, “On my way home, I saw a silver poodle reflected in the window and bought it.” “There were a lot of puppies that were two months old, but this one was about six months old and a little big, so I bought it at a low price because it didn’t sell well,” she said.
“Animal rights violations” vs. “freedom to operate” vs. “stricter licensing”
The debate over the existence of pet stores in direct contact with consumers is also at the forefront of the conflict over the mass production and mass distribution of pets. Animal advocates are calling for a “total ban on pet stores that encourage impulse purchases.” They point to examples like the United Kingdom, which bans the sale of dogs and cats under six months old in pet stores and online, and only allows direct sales from breeders. Belgium, Finland, Germany, and France have also banned pet sales through pet stores.
Pet shop operators are pushing back hard. “I would rather see the illegal puppy mills that are causing the problem shut down,” says Kim. The punishment for abandonment should be strengthened, not preventing people from buying and selling.” “We shouldn’t ignore the net function of helping a good family get a puppy as a family member in a good environment,” said the vendor’s aunt. Some states in Japan and the United States allow pet trading through pet shops.
Consumers seem to fall on a spectrum between the two arguments. Last year토토사이트, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs’ “2022 Public Opinion Survey on Animal Protection” found that 37.7 percent of respondents held the moderate position that “pet trading should be banned except for licensed vendors,” while 29 percent said “it is excessive to regulate even how pets are adopted” and 16.9 percent said “all pet trading should be banned”.
Graphic by Kyungjin Kim capkim@joongang.co.kr
The controversy surrounding online sales, which have become a growing part of pet sales, is also heating up. Under the current law, non-face-to-face transactions of pets are prohibited, so payments cannot be made online, but sites that allow promotion, price comparison, and consultation are actively operating. One such site is Dogchan, which connects not only pet shops but also stray dog shelters and families who want to sell their dogs with those who want to adopt them, and collects a commission. “There are pet shops, but I think more than 90% of inquiries come from online sources such as Instagram,” said Kim Mo, a seller.
Even if the intention to buy a pet is exchanged online, the principle is to visit a pet shop and pick up the pet in person, but there are also de facto non-face-to-face transactions such as paying through bank transfer and having the pet delivered through an animal transportation company. When I asked a pet shop if they could deliver my dog, they said, “We recommend that you visit the pet shop in person, but if it is difficult, we can deliver it. Please pay by bank transfer,” was the response.
In a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 44.8% of respondents (5,000 people) said “it is inappropriate and should be banned” when asked their views on online trading. However, consumer acceptance of online sales is growing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, online adoptions nearly doubled from 0.9% in 2020 to 1.7% last year. “I was able to get more accurate information than at the pet store because the advertisement detailed the dog’s mother and father, breed, birthplace, and vaccination history,” said No-mo, 27, who adopted a Pomeranian through the online channel in May last year.
Graphic by Younghee Lee 02@joongang.co.kr
Instead of reorganizing the production and sales system, the government will “track transaction history”
During the last presidential election, promises were made to ban online pet sales and promotion (Lee Jae-myung, candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea) and strengthen facility and hygiene standards for sellers (Yoon Seok-yeol, candidate of the People’s Power). At the end of last year, the government decided that it would not change the pet sales system itself, but would instead create a system to track and manage transaction history.