Dogs Rescued From China Meat Trade

20 precious animals were rescued from the China’s dog meat trade in June and brought to the U.S., but unfortunately the horrific abuse, torture and death of millions of dogs in China continues. There are no laws in China making the dog trade illegal but two cities in China, namely Shenzhen and Zhuhai have passed a ban on dog and cat meat consumption which really doesn’t affect the millions of these animals that are tortured and eaten by callous dog meat vendors each year. The Yulin dog and cat meat festival is a 10 day festival that began in 2009 for vendors to increase their business, and held in Yulin, a city in the Guangxi province of China which takes place in June each year during summer solstice. Global images of the event show thousands of dogs suffering in cages and violently tortured and killed. It has been reported that between 10 and 15 million dogs are killed and eaten in each year in China.

The heartbreaking part of all of this is the way these defenseless creatures are treated and the suffering they endure. While being deprived of food and water, they are crammed into small wired cages on top of one another awaiting their demise. These terrified animals are killed in the most horrific ways. Some are bashed in the head and their throats slit, while some are beaten until they are dead, and some even suffer a worse fate by being burned alive with a blowtorch or boiled alive. It begs the question, how can be anyone be so cruel and what can the U.S. do about it?

One such individual decided in 2019 to do something about it. “China Rescue Dogs (CRD) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization co-founded by Jill Stewart, an ardent advocate of animal rights worldwide, with a passion to help and rescue dogs caught in the Chinese meat markets. Their global mission of CRD is to rescue

abandoned dogs and those from breeding farms bound for slaughter, as well as directly from the butcher and rehabilitate them, in an effort to provide them with loving, forever homes in North America. There are over a dozen other U.S. dog rescue organizations that are working alongside us on these rescues” as stated on the organization’s website which has rescued over 2300 dogs since 2019. Ms. Stewart also founded Rue’s Kennels at LAX in Inglewood, CA, a non-profit which is the first of its kind, providing an animal care facility built to help rescue dogs around the globe.

In June of this year, sixteen golden retrievers, two corgis, a poodle and one malamute were rescued from the China dog meat market and brought to Los Angeles through the concerted effort of China Rescue Dogs, SPCA International, Weather Tech CEO David MacNeil, several golden retriever organizations and Yiping Lai with World of Angels Foundations who works tirelessly to rescue dogs overseas. Before boarding their flight to freedom, each rescued dog receives extensive veterinary care, testing, documentation and microchipping. Upon arrival the dogs were re-inspected by the USDA, CDC and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, for entry into the United States. After being cleared, the dogs were taken to the Rue’s Kennels facility in Inglewood where they received loving care and placement into foster homes and some fortunate enough to be adopted into their forever home.

As reported by Christina Merino: Lori Kalef, director of programs at SPCA International stated “It’s very very difficult for rescues to be able to import dogs into the United States, very costly, and there’s a lot of red tape. Not just in the export country, but in the import country as well. Depending on which area of the world the dogs are imported from, it could cost somewhere in the vicinity of $5,000 to $10,000, sometimes even more. That is why multiple partnerships are important to make the rescues possible.” The SPCA International website states that the massive undertaking for rescuing these dogs from China had an estimated cost of $50,000. Ms. Kalef went on to express how important the Rue’s Kennels facility is because of the tightened restrictions and temporary suspension for importing dogs to the U.S., which was put into place by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 2021, and is now slated to be extended starting August 1, 2023.

In a 2021 press release, China Rescue Dogs stated that “The CDC suspension which began on July 14th, 2021 has spiraled into a crisis affecting rescue dogs around the globe, ...and likely also played a role in the approximately 130 dogs that were left to die at the Kabul Airport in Afghanistan.” Jill Stewart, President and Founder of China Rescue Dogs said, “These [CDC] internal documents reveal that the CDC dog suspension was absolutely an overreaction – in part due to the increase in the number of puppies from Russia, Ukraine, and Columbia. So, the CDC made the blanket decision to completely stop all imports of dogs from 113 countries, rather than focusing on the offending countries.” The report went on to say, “China Rescue Dogs has viable and responsible solutions to end the CDC suspension, but unfortunately, they are being ignored by the CDC.” Vice President of Operations for China Rescue Dogs, Brandy Cherven said, “Rescue dogs all over the world no longer have hope. All we want to do is save dogs from the slaughterhouses and meat trade in China, so they can live happy lives with forever families here in the U.S. But our country apparently no longer cares.”

Sharing is caring and can help bring an end to the torture and killing of these precious creatures, so please share and help in any way you can. China Rescue Dogs relies entirely on the compassion of volunteers and donors who support their efforts to end this needless suffering and torture by the China dog meat trade. To donate or volunteer please visit: https://www.chinarescuedogs.org