Exclusive: Mystery dog dumper strikes again in Seongbuk-gu — and it may not be the first time

Seven dogs have been abandoned in quick succession in Seoul's Seongbuk-gu in recent weeks — and it has now emerged that five poodles were dumped in the same neighborhood four years ago under strikingly similar circumstances. No police report was filed at the time, leaving the case unsolved. With police now investigating the latest incidents, there is hope that the identity of the person responsible, and any possible link to illegal breeding or sales operations, may finally come to light.

According to The Herald Business' reporting, five brown poodles were found on Nov. 14, 2022, scattered across different locations in the Donam-dong and Jeongneung-dong areas of Seongbuk-gu — all on the same day. The person who led the rescue effort then, identified only by the surname Jeong, is the same individual who first spotted the dogs in the current case and organized the subsequent search.

Jeong personally rescued one poodle that was wandering near a utility pole in front of a Catholic church in Donam-dong. The remaining dogs were found behind shops near Sungshin Women's University and in alleyways of a residential neighborhood. A veterinarian who examined them at the time determined that all five were female, estimated to be between 10 and 13 years old, and showed signs of uterine adhesions, mammary tumors and other health problems, as well as evidence of cesarean sections. Jeong suspects the dogs had been used for breeding before being discarded.

No police report or complaint was filed at the time. "I had just started university and had only recently begun doing animal rescue work, so it didn't occur to me that I should contact the police," Jeong said. "I focused on spreading the word online and finding temporary foster homes and adopters for the dogs." The animals were eventually placed in care and adopted out, but the person who abandoned them was never identified.

Four years later, seven more dogs were found in Seongbuk-gu between Nov. 2 and Nov. 4, this time along Bugaksan-ro and near Miari Pass. On Nov. 2, a dog with its snout bound with a rubber band was discovered trapped inside a black plastic bag in roadside brush. The following day, another dog was rescued from a carrier bag found roughly 1.5 kilometers away near Miari Pass. Jeong then searched the surrounding area with local residents and found five more dogs on Nov. 4.

Most of the dogs rescued this time are Maltese-mix males. All but one — a seven-year-old — are puppies between roughly three and eight months old. Veterinary examinations found that all seven suffer from skin conditions and are underweight. One has ruptured cruciate ligaments in both hind legs.

The pattern of repeated mass abandonments has raised suspicions that a breeding facility or pet dealer may be involved. "I've heard there are places in Seongbuk-gu that breed and sell dogs illegally," Jeong said. "I suspect these dogs, like the ones before, were not someone's pets but came from a breeding operation or a dealer."

Police are now pursuing the case. The Korean Animal Welfare Association filed a complaint against an unidentified suspect with the Seoul Seongbuk Police Station on Tuesday, citing violations of the Animal Protection Act. Police have questioned the complainant and are also looking into whether the dogs were abandoned en masse from a breeding facility or similar operation. Officers visited the scene and secured footage from nearby closed-circuit television cameras on the day the complaint was filed. Plastic bags and a carrier bag held by the rescuer were also collected as evidence for fingerprint analysis.

However, identifying the perpetrator may prove difficult: the spots where the dogs were found are roadside brush areas with few CCTV cameras nearby. The Korean Animal Welfare Association plans to obtain veterinary assessments documenting the dogs' health conditions and living environment and submit them to police.

Park Ju-yeon, a research committee member at the animal rights law group PNR, said the pattern points toward someone who kept large numbers of dogs. "The fact that multiple dogs were abandoned in similar locations suggests a possible connection to someone who was raising many animals," Park said. "Binding a dog's snout or confining it in a bag goes beyond simple abandonment — it could also be examined as animal cruelty."