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Sian Davies from Cardiff filmed live dogs for sale at Moran Market in South Korea - revealing many are clubbed to death before being turned into dog soup. She said she rescued several puppies during her visit but faces an impossible task to save them all, with an estimated 80,000 slaughtered at the market every year. Ms Davies, 53, is an animal rights campaigner who is originally from Cardiff but now lives in Florida. She is one of the founders of Passion For Compassion, which is an organisation working with multiple activists to rescue dogs and stop the meat trade. Ms Davies and her fellow activists, Suzi Lee, 53 who is Korean but lives in Washington DC and Helen Kim, 51, visited Moran Market in South Korea to learn the "truth" about the dog meat trade.

Sian Davies from Cardiff filmed live dogs for sale at Moran Market

She said: “The dog meat selling was supposed to be banned from the market. “But we saw live dogs displayed and although we did not see dogs being slaughtered there we certainly knew they were. “We heard them and saw a butcher coming out for a wheelbarrow and of course we have seen, photographed and videoed the live dogs on display.” According to a report by campaign group Animal Asia, 80,000 dogs were slaughtered a year in Moran Market, as of 2017. Dogs are not officially considered to be livestock, and so it is unregulated.

According to Animal Asia, 80,000 dogs were slaughtered a year in Moran Market, as of 2017

Some dogs are brutally put down by being bludgeoned to death with clubs. The two most widely bred dogs for the trade are Tosas and Jindos, but Jindos are the most widely sold. Ironically, the Jindo dog is also the national animal of Korea. But the animal rights campaigner says no breed is exempt from the meat trade, including highly sought after and expensive breeds. She added: “No dogs are immune from the dog meat trade.

One positive of Ms Davies’ experience was that she managed to save two puppies

“I’m still shocked at the dogs that are found in the dog meat trade. “We save multiple golden retrievers and poodles. “When you see these dogs in the markets it’s very difficult because your first instinct is to think ok I need to buy all these dogs but you can’t because now you’ve become a customer, not rescuer. “It’s heartbreaking and it’s a rollercoaster of emotions anger, hurt, overwhelming sadness and hopelessness.” One positive of Ms Davies’ experience was that she managed to save two puppies.

Yulin dog meat festival 2018 in pictures Thu, June 21, 2018 Warning: Graphic picture content Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 18 Puppies are seen in a cage at a dog meat market in Yulin, in China's southern Guangxi region

The activists managed to negotiate the release of the two puppies which she named “Chance” and “Destiny”. Ms Davies continued: “The guy was going to sell Destiny and Chance for roughly $46 to the butcher. “So their lives were worth $23 each. It gives you nightmares.” Ms Davies has rescued golden retrievers and a Samoyed rescued multiple poodles and samoyed – which is now her beloved pet. Many people at the market were eating a dog meat soup known as “boshingtang”.