...Get yer dog chops while you can!
South Korea closes largest dog meat slaughterhouse (BBC)
The complex will be replaced by a public parkOfficials in South Korea have started to dismantle the country's largest dog slaughterhouse.
The Taepyeong-dong complex in Seongnam city, south of Seoul, will be cleared over two days and converted into a public park.
Dog meat is a common delicacy in South Korea, with approximately one million dogs consumed there every year.
Activists have sought to end the custom, while more South Koreans have chosen to keep dogs as pets.
"This is a historic moment," Korean Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) said in a statement. "It will open the door for more closures of dog meat slaughterhouses across the country, expediting the decline of the overall dog meat industry."
The Taepyeong-dong complex - an important source of meat for restaurants across the country - housed at least six slaughterhouses, holding several hundred animals at a time.
Campaigners from Humane Society International (HSI) described conditions inside the complex as "horrifying". They reported seeing electrocution equipment used to slaughter the dogs, knives and a de-hairing machine.
- Nara Kim said: "It was a stain on the city of Seongnam and we are so pleased to see it bulldozed."