Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who is due to sing at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in South Korea next month, has appealed to the country to stop torturing cats and dogs before eating them.
Bocelli is the latest in a line of famous figures and footballers to sign a petition organised by PETA (People for the Ethical Protection of Animals) which paints a painful picture of how animals are tortured, including being boiled alive.
"Bocelli has signed the PETA petition to ask South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung to stop dogs being beaten, hanged, burned and given electric shocks before being killed," PETA said in a statement on Wednesday.
Walter Caporale, head of PETA's Italian branch, said South Korean law ruled against such cruelty but this was often broken.
PETA said dogs were taunted and beaten before being killed for their meat, causing an adrenaline rush that meat-sellers said increased male virility, while cats were boiled alive in order to extract liquid used in tonics.
"The yelps and screams of the tortured animals will stop people enjoying the happiness of the World Cup," it added.
Singers Janet Jackson and Christina Aguilera as well as actors Jean-Claude Van Damme, Joe Pesci and Charlize Theron had signed the petition already, PETA said.
England and Liverpool players Michael Owen, Jamie Redknapp and Emile Heskey signed the petition in February.