This content may be disturbing to our sensitive readers.

This cute pup isn’t waiting at a shelter for a family to take him home – in fact; it’d be much better if everyone just completely ignored him.

That’s because he lives on a dog meat farm, and people use dog meat for a traditional folk remedy soup.

Bok Nal commemorates the start of the hottest summer months in South Korea, but it’s also a terrible time for dogs who are raised for food.

Thankfully most Koreans aren’t actually into canine cuisine, but some of the older generations still hold the belief that dog meat can build up stamina and help cool down the body.

The rest of the year dog meat demand is low, but Bak Nal is a time when the demand increases like crazy, so it becomes a money-maker for illegal farms.

While the practice is frowned upon by nearly 84% of the country, and 60% support an outright ban, it’s currently not illegal to consume dog or even cat meat.

That means every year thousands of poor doggies are left to languish in tiny cages in the heat, where they can’t move around and are covered in their own feces.

But days before the start of Bok Nal season, Korean K9 Rescue literally came to their rescue by working with Humane Society International to free 21 dogs.

The farm was shut down by the government for not having a license, but the dogs were left behind. So Korean K9 Rescue partnered with Humane Society International to find them new, much better homes!

While there is a ban in place against the CRUEL slaughter of dogs and cats, people are still free to eat them.

That doesn’t sit right with a lot of folks, and animal rights activists have been calling for a total ban because you’re not supposed to eat animals that most people consider pets.

They may finally have an ally in South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in.

The new president is a known dog lover who has four pups of his own, including a rescued Jindo, which is a breed that’s commonly found on these meat farms.

The 21 dogs that were freed on this farm are actually Jindo crosses, so perhaps that’ll pull at the president’s heartstrings enough for him to take action.

Because who could possibly want to eat this precious cutie?

Here are some disheartening dog meat facts:

• Most people in South Korea don’t eat dog, but some still hold the belief that it has healing, regenerative properties
• HSI/Korea’s Models for Change has closed 17 dog meat farms since 2015 and helped re-home 2,500 of them in the US, UK, and Canada.
• While dog meat is banned in other Asian countries like Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Taiwan, 30 million dogs are still killed every year for food.

Thankfully, there are amazing animal rescues all around the world who agree that dogs are our friends and not food.

Watch the video below to see these lucky dogs get rescued just in the nick of time!

Please SHARE this with your friends and family.

Source: The Humane Society of the United States, BBC News, People, Humane Society International