Simon Cowell, the 58-year-old America’s Got Talent (AGT) judge and a dog lover, donated £25,000 ($32,575) to Humane Society International (HSI) in an effort to close a dog meat farm in South Korea, according to a Facebook post by HSI on Sept. 27.
“We are excited to announce that Simon Cowell has just donated a HUGE £25,000 to HSI to help us close down a dog meat farm in South Korea saving over 200 dogs from being killed and eaten,” HSI said in the post, “We work with dog meat farmers who wish to leave this dying industry and help them switch to alternative livelihoods of their choice that do not involve any animal agriculture.”
According to HSI, they will use the money to rescue 200 plus dog from the dog meat farm. This will be the 13th dog meat farm in South Korea closed by HSI. The total number of dogs saved by HSI will amount to 1,600.
“With every dog farm we close and every farmer we help [to] switch to a more profitable, humane business,” HSI said in a Facebook post, “we’re showing the South Korean government that it’s possible to end this cruel trade.”
A small number of the 200 plus dogs will be rehomed in the United Kingdom, the rest will be transported to Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands. HSI partner shelters in these countries will help to find new owners for the dogs.
The music mogul Cowell has long been a supporter of HSI’s #EndDogMeat campaign. He once told Good Morning Britain that eating a dog would be like “eating your friend. It’s the fact you’re eating such a kind, helpless, sweet animal.”
South Korean has a long history of eating dog meat, originating from the Three Kingdoms of Korea period during the first century A.D.
However, thousands of dog meat farms still exist in South Korea. Around 2.5 million dogs are being bred for human consumption, HSI said.