"Don't Buy, Adopt" Seoul City Supports Education and Animal Insurance for Adopting Abandoned Animals

Seoul Animal Welfare Support Center, 13 Autonomous District Animal Protection and Adoption Centers Available for Stray Animal Adoption

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] As interest in abandoned animals among citizens increases and adoption rates rise, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is strengthening support to promote adoption, ranging from adoption assistance through 13 institutions to abandoned dog insurance and animal care education.

According to Seoul City on the 24th, adoption of abandoned animals can be supported through a total of 13 institutions and organizations, including the Seoul Animal Welfare Support Center, district animal protection centers, and adoption centers. The Seoul Animal Welfare Support Center conducts adoption after completing health checkups, vaccinations, neutering surgeries, and animal registration for the adopted animals. Additionally, abandoned animals can be adopted at district animal protection centers (Korea Animal Rescue Management Association, district-designated animal hospitals), Gangdong Reborn Center, Seocho Animal Love Center, Nowon Companion Animal Culture Center, and public-private cooperative abandoned animal adoption center (Balladang Adoption Cafe).

Citizens who adopt abandoned animals from these institutions and organizations can benefit from the abandoned dog insurance support project, which provides free animal insurance for one year, and the adoption cost support project, which subsidizes part of the animal care expenses after adoption. The "Abandoned Dog Insurance" product was launched in cooperation with DB Insurance and covers medical treatment costs for diseases (including oral diseases), injury treatment costs, and liability for damages caused to others or others' companion animals by the adopted abandoned dog.

Furthermore, Seoul City provides companion animal adoption education for citizens interested in adoption and companion animal care education to obtain necessary information for caring for companion animals, so that citizens can adopt abandoned animals carefully and raise them properly. These courses are available on the Seoul Lifelong Learning Portal.

Last year, 39.8% of abandoned animals in Seoul were adopted or donated, and 9.5% were euthanized. Compared to 2020, adoption and donation increased by 2.9 percentage points, while the euthanasia rate decreased by 6.6 percentage points, indicating a change in perception toward abandoned animal adoption and the spread of animal protection culture.

Park Yumi, Director of the Seoul Citizen Health Bureau, said, "As more citizens become interested in adopting abandoned animals, Seoul will implement more diverse abandoned animal adoption support projects to promote adoption," and added, "We hope more citizens will take interest and participate in adopting abandoned animals."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.