Home is where the cat is: Osan Airmen visit KAPS, adopt pets

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Matthew Summers
  • 51st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
BOEUN, Republic of Korea --  What began with a single kitten and a Korean woman's unwavering compassion for all animals bore fruit recently, as a member of Team Osan became the first U.S. military member to adopt from the Korean Animal Protection Society.

Following the official signing of adoption papers Saturday, Bang Wol and Brutus - both 2-year-old male cats and former residents of the protection agency's Boeun Shelter in central Korea - became the newest members of the household of Tech. Sgt. Michael Hayden, 51st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

Sergeant Hayden adopted a cat when stationed at Osan in 2003 and had to put it up for adoption when he received a follow-on to a remote assignment at Lajes Field. He said this time around things worked out differently. The aircraft electrician, currently serving a two-year tour, decided to adopt again when he found out his follow-on assignment will be Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska.

"Cats make great companions," said Sergeant Hayden, who lives off base in Songtan. "Dogs are great too, but you can't leave a dog alone for long hours at a time - with the hours we work and exercises as well, it just wouldn't be fair to a dog."

The adoption was made possible partly through the efforts of Danni Armstrong, volunteer coordinator at the Osan Animal Shelter and Veterinary Treatment Facility. She led a visit by a group of 15 volunteers to the Boeun facility to take much needed supplies and food for the approximately 40 animals currently at the shelter.

Mrs. Armstrong first made contact with the shelter's founder, Kum, Sun Nan, after finding the protection society's Web site. Mrs. Kum's touching story was enough for Mrs. Armstrong to decide the society's endeavor "needs our attention and our support to get Korea moving forward" in the proper care of animals. She said Korea is far behind the United States in their understanding of animals as pets, animal care and cruelty to animals.

"We want to influence this country in their treatment of animals," she said. "We want to build a Korean-American relationship through love and concern for animal welfare."
Perhaps no other Korean has had as much impact on the welfare of animals in her own country as Mrs. Kum, said Mrs. Armstrong.

In 1982, Mrs. Kum found a stray kitten suffering from a skin disease on the streets of Daegu in southeastern Korea. When she took the kitten to her husband's drugstore to provide treatment, her husband was among many of her fellow residents who said she was crazy for trying to help the feline.

"They said, 'Are you crazy? If you have money to help animals, why don't you help people?"' Mrs. Kum said. "I told them animals have life just like we do, they have emotions like us and they must survive like us."

She began spending her own time and money rescuing unwanted and abandoned animals. In 1991, she discovered others with the same interest and together they founded the protection society, a not-for-profit organization aligned under the Korean Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. 

As the society's first chairperson, Mrs. Kum petitioned the government for animal protection legislation, resulting in the Bill of Korean Animal Protection.

Although she believes the attitude of many Koreans toward animal welfare is improving little by little each year, she said she will continue her work - to make people understand that animal life is equal to human life - until there is no life left in her.

Pet adoption is also available at the Osan Animal Shelter located within the Veterinary Clinic, Bldg. 766.

The shelter receives many relinquished, stray and abandoned dogs and cats. The veterinarian examines the animals and tests them - dogs more than 6 months old are heartworm tested, cats are tested for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus. If deemed adoptable, the animal is vaccinated and placed up for adoption.

For more information, call the clinic at 011-82-31-661-6614. To find out more about the protection society, visit http://www.koreananimals.or.kr/.