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MOSSEL BAY NEWS & VIDEO - The story unfolds like a Disney cartoon movie script. In fact the real life scenario is so gruesome, perhaps a movie creating awareness of it would be a good idea.
It's South Korea and the year is 2015.
Mommy dog, heavily pregnant, escapes from a cruel farm where certain breeds are kept before they are slaughtered for their meat. Or she was shoved out of the gates, unwanted.
She leaves behind dogs which will end up roasted or cooked in a stew and served to Korean men who believe the meat gives them stamina or helps regulate their body temperature in the hot summer.
Mommy has her nine puppies on the street. Fortunately, it is not winter and her young survive. Volunteers from an animal shelter rescue mom and pups and take them under their wing.
Feisty
A feisty South African woman, who has been supporting the shelters for years and donating blankets and whatever else she could, had dreamt of adopting a dog.
The shelters are strict. They do not want people to adopt animals and then discard them, so they enforce payment terms over several months in the hope people will hold on to the pets and look after them lovingly and faithfully.
The shelter considers the woman's request to adopt and allows her to foster one of the mommy's puppies for a term while they assess the suitability of her and her home. She had saved money for three years, hoping to adopt a dog.
The woman, Madri du Preez, takes the puppy home to her 10th floor apartment in the city of Incheon Cheonga.
He refuses to use the "pee mat".
For three to four months, the two of them are up and down in the elevator whenever nature calls. It is a labour of love and commitment for Madri.
Intelligent
She calls the dog Paulus. The adoption of the sensitive, intelligent male beagle-cross-spaniel is allowed to go ahead by the shelter. Madri takes Paulus everywhere with her. When she goes places on her scooter he sits at her feet.
He wears different outfits including a Number 8 Springbok jersey. Because of the stringent rules in Incheon Cheonga, Paulus is trained not to bark unnecessarily.
Paulus feels at home on a scooter.
Madri, who was in South Korea for six years teaching schoolchildren English, decides she wants to come home to South Africa before she turns 40 and of course she brings her faithful companion with her. Paulus is now three years old.
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Madri now plans to do online teaching for a company in China and will then go on to complete her teaching degree.
Interviewed at her mother's home in Mossel Bay this week, she says: "There are certain breeds the Koreans love to eat, such as retrievers, beagles and spaniels. There is also a dog called a Jindo, a Korean breed. There is a certain Jindo-mix which they eat.
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Docile
"These breeds have soft, tender meat and the dogs are docile and don't make a noise when they are kept in cages. The shelters want to close down these dog farms.
"Beagles are used for cosmetic testing. The Koreans have the best skin products and make-up. These beagles are kept for up to nine years for testing. They never experience the feeling of grass under their paws."
When Madri got back to South Africa she bought a scooter. "We had one in Korea," she explains. "Paulus grew up on a scooter." Paulus can be seen with Madri at many places in Mossel Bay. He is an extremely obedient, well-trained dog and has a collection of toys that would rival some children's.
When Madri got back to South Africa she bought a scooter.
Madri says one of the saddest, most bizarre sights are the hindquarters of dogs being sold in open markets, together a variety of other goods, in South Korea. "Similar to a leg of lamb where you see the hoof, you see the dog's paw.
"People shouldn't buy a dog. They should adopt a dog that needs a home. I believe in that. I got Paulus from that shelter when he was three months old."
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