Korea will operate a temporary protection system for abandoned exotic wild animals.
 
The Ministry of Environment announced on Wednesday that it will run the system in cooperation with wild animal rescue and management centers in ten regions nationwide including Seoul. 
 
When animals such as raccoons, meerkats, foxes and prairie dogs are found deserted, they will be moved to those local centers for temporary protection.
 
They will remain there until the end of next year before being transferred to a regular protection facility at the National Institute of Ecology(NIE) in Seocheon County, South Chungcheong Province.
 
The ministry plans to establish wild animal protection facilities at the NIE next year and at a site in Janghang in the same province in 2025.

The number of abandoned wild animals is increasing each year, with 301 such animals reported last year. In many cases, the exotic creatures, once abandoned, are killed by injection of a death-inducing drug if they fail to be returned to their owners.