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Pet grooming academies accused of animal abuse

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Dogs for grooming training are held in cages at a pet grooming academy in South Gyeongsang Province in this April 10 photo. Korea Times file
Dogs for grooming training are held in cages at a pet grooming academy in South Gyeongsang Province in this April 10 photo. Korea Times file

By Bahk Eun-ji

Some private "academies" that train people to groom pets have been accused of animal abuse due to the poor treatment and hygiene of the animals used in training.

Critics say that these problems come from a legal loophole in animal protection laws. Under the Animal Protection Act, animal groomers should manage facilities hygienically and safely, as well as prepare equipment to prevent dogs from suffering health problems, but such academies are not included in the animal beauty industry category because they are considered educational institutions, not workplaces

There are online posts uploaded by people who attended such academies, who say that most of the institutions do not have proper facilities, such as hot water, devices to prevent animals from falling from grooming desks and rest areas.

Moreover, most put the dogs in narrow cages and do not provide good hygiene, they said.

In a video clip and photos posted last month by the animal activist group, "Mom and Dad for Abandoned Animals," many dogs at a "grooming academy" were kept in narrow cages, with one suffering from a tumor, another an injury that may have been sustained from scissors, and one more with part of its tongue cut out. But there was not even minimal treatment for these illnesses and injuries, such as applying medicine, according to the group.

The clip and the photos have incited public anger, with people calling for regulations to be put on the grooming industry and its academies. A petition posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website on April 12 calling for the establishment of a relevant law to sternly punish such animal cruelty in private pet grooming academies had gathered over 40,000 signatures as of Sunday.

Some say that these academies should be required to use replicas or mock-ups during training instead of using living creatures.

On this issue, the Korean Kennel Club (KKC), one of the organizations responsible for the pet grooming qualification test, said it uses a wig instead of a dog for the test.

"We began using wigs in 2016. At first, it was out of fairness during the test to provide the same environment for test takers," said an official of the KKC. "But the use of wigs is better in terms of animal protection as well, and it also reduces the risk of spreading infectious diseases among dogs during the test."

However, the official said that using only wigs for training has its limitations.

"Those future pet groomers are not going to be using wigs when they actually do their jobs," he said. "I don't think that it will be such a big problem for the academies to use dogs, as long as they are educated sufficiently not to abuse the animals."

In the meantime, the pet grooming industry is growing rapidly, as the domestic pet population has soared to 15 million. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, there were 6,351 pet grooming establishments in 2019, up 34.4 percent from a year earlier.


Bahk Eun-ji ejb@koreatimes.co.kr


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