PETS BEING ABANDONED AT PET HOTELS

[Anchor Lead]

Many pet owners sometimes have to check their animals into so-called "pet hotels" for a certain period of time, if they are unable to take care of them during holidays or for other reasons. But in many cases in Korea, pets are abandoned at such facilities as their owners never show up to take them back. Here is the story.

[Pkg]

Simba is a three-year-old puppy. He was left at a pet hotel more than a month ago and has not yet returned home.

[Soundbite] SHIN KI-MUN(PET TRAINER) : "It was supposed to go back home in three days. However, its owner did not return."

From just a few weeks to up to four years, a large number of puppies wait for their owners who don't come back. The pets are actually abandoned.

[Soundbite] LEE YEON-TAEK(PET TRAINER) : "It seems that pet owners look for places where the puppies can be kept safely, since they can neither abandon their poor pets on the street nor continue to raise them."

Ten puppies were abandoned at this pet hotel last month alone. About 60 puppies are abandoned at this boarding kennel annually. Staff at pet hotels repeatedly make phone calls to the owners only to hear empty promises, with some not answering their phones at all.

[Soundbite] (PET OWNER(VOICE MODIFIED)) : "(Why haven't you taken your puppy back?) I had a lot of work to do. It was hectic. I am too busy now."

Under the current law, pet owners are fined up to three million won if they abandon their animals. When pets are left at pet care facilities, it is difficult to determine whether they are being abandoned, and therefore, their owners are unlikely to face fines. The financial burden is huge for pet hotels to take care of abandoned puppies for a long time. It is also difficult to find new owners for the puppies if the hotels don't receive an agreement stating that customers have to give up their ownership if they fail to take their pets back within a designated period of time.

[Soundbite] IM JANG-CHUN(PRES., ASSOCIATION OF PET HOTELS AND TRAINING CENTERS) : "Pet care facilities have to pay compensation if they fail to return pets to their owners."

There are roughly 1,000 pet hotels across the nation. Abandoned puppies are still endlessly waiting for their owners to come back.