DAEJEON, A district office in the central city of Daejeon mistakenly warned about 70 fierce dogs breaking loose from a farm on Wednesday when only three regular canines had actually escaped.
The Dong Ward office in Daejeon had initially sent an emergency text message alert at 10 a.m., saying about 70 dangerous canines had escaped from their farm in Samgoe-dong and advising residents to evacuate to safe places.
Shortly afterward, the office sent another public alert, stating that all the escaped dogs were captured. Police officers and ward officials sent to the scene confirmed there were only three regular canines that had broken away from the fence.
A district official said that the initial alert was dispersed erroneously due to an emergency report forwarded to the office by rescue authorities, indicating that 70 dogs had escaped.
The district office’s disaster response division then labeled the purportedly astray dogs as “fierce” without fact-checking for safety concerns, according to officials.
“In or
der to sound the alarm to residents and visiting mountaineers, we used the expression fierce dogs,” a district official said, offering an apology for creating confusion.
The district office also launched an inspection of the dog farm, which was raising about 30 small and big dogs without officially registering for dog breeding, to see if there were any law violations.