Incheon city officials avoided a mass euthanasia of shelter animals by restoring budget funding at the last minute, but more than 100 animals still have nowhere to go as their shelters prepare to close by the end of the year.
Roughly 100 abandoned animals housed at an Incheon shelter narrowly escaped euthanasia after the city council added emergency funding to next year's budget. The facility, however, is scheduled to shut down, leaving mostly medium- and large-sized dogs in urgent need of new accommodations.
The Incheon Metropolitan Council approved the city's 2026 budget during a plenary session on Monday, according to the city on Friday.
The council added 120 million won ($81,000) for an animal shelter renovation and support program just before final passage, despite the city government not including the item in its original proposal.
Incheon's only large dog shelter to shut down
Two animal shelters in Incheon will end operations by the end of this year as their consignment contracts with district governments expire. One of them, operated by the Incheon Veterinary Medical Association in Gyeyang District, was caring for around 70 abandoned animals as of Dec. 11.
The shelter has been criticized over its aging infrastructure and outdoor kennels, which fall short of standards, but operators said limited public funding and poor working conditions for veterinarians made continued operation unsustainable. The association decided to end its consignment contract, which had been in place since 2006.
The newly approved budget spared the animals from immediate euthanasia, but the shelter must still be dismantled by the end of the year. The vet association must restore the site to its original condition and return the land to its owner, leaving the animals without a permanent home.
The Gyeyang shelter is effectively the only facility in Incheon capable of housing medium- and large-sized dogs. Many small dogs have already found adopters or moved to other shelters, but most remaining dogs are Jindo mixes and other large breeds that are difficult to place in new homes.
"Small dogs are easier to adopt and relocate," said Jeong Young-gil, the veterinarian who runs the shelter. "Large dogs are much harder to care for unless there is a spacious outdoor facility like this one."
Nowhere to go
Animal welfare groups criticized Incheon city for failing to plan ahead.
"The city let the situation deteriorate to the point where euthanasia became a real possibility," said Go Su-gyeong, head of the animal rescue group With the Dog. "If it had reached that stage, private groups might have tried to split up the animals temporarily, but the financial burden would have been overwhelming. Our own facility can barely take in more animals."
Incheon city officials plan to place the abandoned animals in several veterinary hospitals and support renovations at newly designated animal shelters.
"We are recruiting veterinary hospitals that can temporarily house these animals by the end of this month," a city official said. "Securing space for medium- and large-sized dogs is difficult, so we are also reviewing options such as leasing land using the newly approved budget."
However, critics argue that it will take several months to establish new facilities and that the current shelter should remain in use during the transition.
"There was a recent case in Incheon where abandoned animals died after being kept in poorly equipped outdoor wire cages at a veterinary clinic," Go said. "The city should consider supporting the continued use of the existing facility for at least a few more months."
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY IM SOUNG-BIN [[email protected]]