Nine out of 10 vets treat animals suspected of being abused

Over 94% of veterinarians have treated an animal suspected of being abused, according to a survey. More than 60 percent answered they treated abused animals with severe injuries.

On December 4, the Korea Animal Welfare Institute, an affiliated organization of the Korean Animal Welfare Association, announced that 175 respondents (94.6 percent) said they "treated animals suspected of being abused" in a survey of 185 veterinarians nationwide conducted from November to December last year.

Of them, 107 (61.1%) answered they treated abused animals with severe injuries that would take some 4 weeks to completely heal, and 110 (62.9%) said they treated those with minor injuries that would take around 3 weeks to be cured. About 35 respondents (20%) said an animal died due to an injury from suspected abuse during treatment.

Physical injuries that the veterinarians reported treating included musculoskeletal injuries, such as fractures (67.4%), ocular lesions, such as exophthalmos (47.3%), concussions (41.4%), and skin injuries (38.5%). There were also many cases of malnutrition (34.3%), which is mostly caused by neglect.

Of the 175 veterinarians, only 11 (6.3%) actually reported abuses to police, and among them, only three vets said they took legal action against the perpetrators.

As the reason for not reporting, 93 of them (57.4%) said they did not want to come into conflict with the animal owners, followed by 73 (45.1%) who did not believe that reporting would help stop abuses, and 53 (32.7%) who did not want to be in legal trouble.

The Korea Animal Welfare Institute said, "The majority of respondents were concerned about conflicts with owners or getting in legal trouble," and added that “Also it seems that they have a great deal of distrust in handling and punishment for animal cruelty crimes. From 2010 to 2020, a mere five were arrested among 2,751 people who were charged with violating the animal protection law.

"Veterinarians play an important role in monitoring animal abuses, considering that child abuse cases are often discovered by third parties such as medical institutions," said Lee Hye-won, director of the Animal Welfare Institute. "There is an urgent need for detailed legal instruments for responding and preventing animal cruelty crimes, as well as measures to protect veterinarians who report such cases."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.