The BUZZ had a thought-provoking discussion with director Andrew Abrahams about the film, “Dog War.”
“Dog War” follows a duo of war-hardened, canine-loving combat veterans fighting to stop the dog meat trade in South Korea. Surveilling and infiltrating hidden meat farms and markets, they risk it all to save as many dogs as possible. At the same time, the film spotlights a country at war with itself over the issue, igniting questions about cultural difference, and social and generational change. “Dog War” probes these questions without simple black and white answers—about animal rights vs. human livelihood, heroism vs. vigilantism, respect for another culture, and how far we can justly go to save man’s best friend.
Abrahams talked about how this project started six years ago. He also called out my own naïveté about this happening across the globe. While I kept saying this was a difficult watch, one thing that wasn’t said by me was how eye-opening it was to discover that this was happening. It opened up a lot of other questions that I could not get into during this conversation, but one thing is for sure… what can we do to stop this from happening going forward? This also was addressed in conversation and in the film, as South Korea’s National Assembly voted to ban the dog meat industry beginning in 2027. This will make it illegal to breed, slaughter, and sell dogs and dog meat for human consumption. However, consumption of dog meat will still be legal.
We will inform you on how to watch “Dog War” when it becomes available.
Watch the full interview with Andrew Abrahams below, or download the podcast by clicking on the player above: