More than 2,700 people have signed a petition to Aberdeen’s Lord Provost calling on him to abandon a trade deal with a South Korean city due to the Asian country’s tradition of eating dogs.
Animal rights group, KoreanDogs, launched the online protest on Saturday and have already gathered 2,731 signatures.
In February, previous Lord Provost George Adam signed the memorandum of understanding deal with the city of Mokpo in a townhouse ceremony with Park Hong-ryull, mayor of Mokpo City.
The focus of the agreement over an initial three-year period is on renewable energy, particularly offshore wind and wave/tidal, marine engineering and higher education links.
The agreement aims to increase transactions and co-operation in the economy and education.
The cities will create exchange programmes in the sectors of renewable energy, offshore engineering and education.
But the deal has provoked outrage among the animal lovers who are calling on new Lord Provost, Barney Crockett, to rip up the deal.
In the petition, the group state: “In Mokpo, there are countless dog farms, slaughterhouses, markets and restaurants where the dogs, who are tortured their entire lives, end up being slaughtered in the most inhumane ways.”
But Mr Crockett said it was important to maintain international links.
He added: “I think animal welfare has always been a big concern for people in the north-east and, if there are opportunities to raise these issues with the Koreans, then we will take them.”