South Korea to give animals legal status to fight abuse and abandonment
动物不是物品!韩国拟赋予动物法律地位
South Korea plans to change its civil code to grant animals legal status, Choung Jae-min, legal counsel at the country’s justice ministry, told Reuters.
韩国司法部法律顾问庄载民(音译)告诉路透社称，韩国计划修改民法，赋予动物法律地位。
The amendment will probably be approved by parliament in September and will recognise animals as sentient beings, with a right to protection and welfare.
韩国国会很可能会在9月通过这项修正案，承认动物是有知觉的生物，且拥有被保护及享受福利的权利。
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The number of animal abuse cases in the country increased from 69 in 2010 to 914 in 2019, data published by a lawmaker’s office showed.
韩国某议员办公室发布的数据显示，韩国虐待动物案件数量从2010年的69件上升到了2019年的914件。
Under the current legal system, animals are treated as objects, Jae-Min said. Once the Civil Act declares animals are no longer simply things, judges and prosecutors will have more options when determining sentences, he said.
庄载民称，按照现行的法律体系，动物被当成物品来对待。一旦民法宣布动物不再是物品，法官和检察官在裁决时将有更多选择。
"Animals are not objects. Certainly, they are not objects. But there are people who can’t control their anger and take it out on their dogs,” Kim Gea-yeung, head of an animal shelter for abandoned dogs and cats in Seoul, said.
首尔一家猫狗收容所的老板金基杨(音译)表示：“动物不是物品。它们当然不是物品。但是有些人控制不住自己，将怒火发泄到了宠物狗身上。”
Jin-hui, a cream-coloured Pomeranian, was buried alive and left for dead in 2018 in the South Korean port city of Busan.
2018年，一只名叫金辉(音译)的奶油色博美犬在韩国港口城市釜山被活埋，差点死掉。
"His owner lost his temper and told his kids to bury him alive. He was barely alive when we rescued him after it was reported, but the man wasn’t punished as the dog was recognised as an object owned by him,” Gea-yeung said.
金基杨称：“它的主人大发脾气，让孩子将狗活埋。我们在接到报告后将其救出时，这只狗已经奄奄一息。但是狗主人并没有受到处罚，因为狗被视为他的所有物。”
Animal rights groups welcomed the justice ministry’s plan while also calling for stricter penalties for animal abuse and a ban on dog meat.
动物权利保护团体对韩国司法部的这项修正案表示欢迎，同时呼吁对虐待动物行为实施更严厉的处罚，并推行狗肉禁令。
"The amendment of the Civil Act defining ‘Animals are not objects’, is an attempt towards great change, and we welcome it,” Cheon Chin-kyung, head of Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA), said.
韩国动物权利倡导组织KARA的负责人千金庆(音译)说：“民法修正案对于‘动物不是物品’的定义是一次迈向巨变的尝试，我们对此表示欢迎。”
"However, abuse, abandonment, and neglect of pets have not improved in our society and need to be controlled by subsequent legislation,” he said.
他说：“然而，虐待、遗弃、忽视宠物的情况在我们的社会没有得到改善，需要后续立法加以控制。”
"One of the most typical cases of such abuse is the consumption of dog meat, which should also be prohibited by law,” Chin-kyung added.
千金庆补充道：“虐待动物最典型的一个行为就是吃狗肉，这一行为也应该被法律禁止。”
In South Korea, many abandoned dogs inevitably end up being caught and sent to meat farms. Animal abandonment rose to 130,401 in 2020 from 89,732 cases in 2016, the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency said.
在韩国，许多被遗弃的狗最后不可避免地被抓起来送往屠宰场。据动植物检疫机关称，韩国被遗弃的动物数量从2016年的89732只增加到了2020年的130401只。
South Korea has an estimated 6 million pet dogs and 2.6 million cats.
据估计，韩国目前有600万只宠物狗和260万只猫。
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