Seoul streets claim 10,000 cats’ lives

The majority of roadkill victims in Seoul City were found to be cats, a local lawmaker said Monday.

According to a report by Rep. Lee No-keun of the ruling Saenuri Party, about 9,700 cats were killed on roads in the capital from 2012 to 2014, accounting for 81 percent of all roadkill.

Same 12,000 animals were found dead on the roads over the three years, with about 10 animals being killed daily on average, the report said.

Dogs were the second-most killed animals followed by wild animals, with 12 percent and 7 percent, respectively.

In terms of districts, Gangnam-gu in southern Seoul recorded the most roadkill accidents with an average of 15 cases a day. Guro-gu and Geumcheon-gu in the southwestern region had 12 daily cases on average.

Eunpyeong-gu in northwestern Seoul, on the other hand, recorded almost none, with just 0.2 daily cases.

The lawmaker urged the Seoul Metropolitan Government to take preventive measures to save animals.

“Mayor Park Won-soon put the animal-saving agenda on his list of top 10 welfare polices as part of his reelection pledges last year but (the mayor) has remained silent on the roadkill issue,” Lee said.

As part of efforts to curb roadkill accidents, the Environment Ministry and some municipalities have pushed since 2007 to install ecological corridors or preventive fences near roads to lead the animals to safer paths.

Once roadkill cases are reported to the public call center ― by dialing 120 ― animal corpses are recovered by the city, officials said.

By Lee Hyun-jeong  (rene@heraldcorp.com)