Head of animal rights organization accused of secretly euthanizing dogs

The head of an animal rights organization is accused of secretly euthanizing hundreds of dogs at a no-kill animal shelter in South Korea. According to Fox News, Park So-yeon, the director of Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE), admitted in a social media post that “some” dogs had been euthanized because of illness and aggression, but claimed that it was only as a “last resort.”

Employees at the no-kill shelter are now calling for Park to step down because she is accused of having over 230 dogs put to sleep over the past three years. On the agency’s website, the no-kill policy is referenced:

We are the largest and most effective animal rights organization in South Korea.

We rescue abused and abandoned animals, run two adoption centers and three no-kill shelters, campaign for and defend animal rights, report on animal rights and welfare related issues, and promote a cruelty-free lifestyle.

Defense of the euthanasia

Lim Hee-jin, a senior manager at CARE, has stated that keeping the no-kill policy in force led to “mass overcrowding” at the shelters. But the euthanasia which began with just sick and aggressive dogs allegedly morphed into more general killings, for vague reasons. Now, Park is facing charges for alleged crimes, reports the Korea Herald.

Kwon Yu-rim, a lawyer at Yuldam Law Office which filed the complaint against Park, explains:

CARE has stood for a shelter without euthanasia. Donors would have not made donations if they knew that dogs had been euthanized. Her act of having received donations in itself is fraud.

Adding:

Using the donations to administer euthanasia and process dead bodies constitutes embezzlement.

The Park is being asked to step away from her position at CARE, she has stated that she has no intention of doing so.

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