Hi everyone

I wanted to share a personal message with you. I have been back at the base in China this month, and it’s full of mixed emotions. Deep sadness knowing some of our rescues have passed away without knowing loving homes and great joy to meet some old friends, including some of my Yulin rescues, I thought would not make it.

I wanted to update you on Mary, our pitbull. Not only is she alive and safe, but she is also. She is thriving.

To remind you of her story:

When I was in Yulin with Mr Zhao and the Judge, we went to some horrific dog farms hidden in the hills behind the city—lawless places with dirt-track roads and no signage. On one of them, we met Mary, chained by her neck in a rusty cage and forced to give birth over and over. Her newborn was beside her in the cage, and the farmer who fed them on rotting rice told us in a few months he would be slaughtered and sold as dried meat ‘ bacon’ strips.

It was the eve of the festival, and he was reluctant to let us take even a few of the males. He told us to come back in two days, and he would let us take the unsold dogs. But, he said, he would never release Mary, his only breeder.

These words pained my heart, which was already broken by the suffering I had seen at Yulin. It was sweltering heat, and there was not even a bowl of water in sight.

We discussed Mary between us, and Mr Zhao told me that as a pitbull, we faced imprisonment if they caught us transporting her across county lines. I didn’t want to make life more complicated, but I couldn’t leave without her.

So I did something I believe we all should do: I prayed. I prayed for mercy from our eternal mother Mary.

As we went back that dawn, the farmer had prepared four males, and he agreed to let us take her pup. We were miserable. This didn’t feel like a victory. But then, as we were loading the dogs in our blacked-out van, he shouted down to us. We couldn’t hear him at first, so Mr Zhao climbed back up the muddy path. “ I hope she has a better life”, he was shouting, and before we knew it, he handed her over.

It all went so fast, but for a split second, I felt change and redemption were possible.

Painfully thin and full of parasites, she squashed into the cage with the others, and we drove the long 22-hour journey back to Hebei, where they and our other rescues were hospitalised. I visited her every morning and night to clean her wounds and feed her. The hospital staff were terrified of her.

It was at that moment that I decided to name her Mary. She is our mother miracle.

Slowly, she began to recover, and after I left, she was put into our base in the brand-new kennels we had built for this year’s rescues.

I couldn’t believe it as I came back into the sub-zero temperature to find she was the first face I saw. Her tail was running at a hundred miles an hour. I opened her kennel and let her run free. She is joyful, playful, fat and gorgeous. My heart felt overrun with gratitude, and I am convinced that, whatever your faith and beliefs, the power of prayer works.

And as for her pup, little Maurice. Well, you can see from the photos below how big this ‘ little fella’ has become.

I will update you more in our own special Pawmas newsletters over the next few days, and please follow us on social media to see our videos.

I would like to ask if you can buy one of our Christmas calendars to help fund our work and donate to our heating appeal if you can afford to. We only have 5 days’ worth of fuel left.

Thank you, everyone.

Julia and all the team @notodogmeat in China

Press board photos and video on request

Press@notodogmeat.com

0300 302 0326

This is Loimu (previously known as Stefan). He was rescued from an animal hospital in China along with other dogs and cats who were treated cruelly. They were planned to be dumped into dog meat traders once they were no longer of use, and he was specifically used as an unwilling donor for his blood.

Loimu is one of the lucky few who made it out alive and got a home far away from China. His golden fur is like a shining beacon of hope, cutting through the darkness of his past. He is not only beautiful externally, but internally as well: Loimu is incredibly kind, gentle and trusting of people regardless of his past. This is because of the hard work that volunteers put into socializing him and making him realize that not all people are evil.

Despite his past, he is gentle with children and cats, breaking the myth that rescues are not suitable for households with small children or other animals. He now gets to live out a life he deserves as a loved family member with his dog and cat sister in Finland.

But so many beautiful souls are waiting in China, ready to be adopted and get the life they deserve as well. When you adopt, you are not only saving a life, but also making yours that much more meaningful: there is nothing better than seeing an abused animal getting to enjoy their life in peace and comfort.

Thousands of dogs just like him are destined to go to Yulin every single year. Let’s not turn a blind eye to this but raise awareness and fight to put and end to it all together.

NoToDogMeat has had a very busy week in China, with a truck and meat market raid which has resulted in ten precious lives being saved.

This week charity CEO Julia de Cadenet live blogged from the side of the road in the Hebei province, where the charity had flagged down a small truck transporting stray dogs to the meat trade.

Because the dogs did not have the correct paperwork, as is true in most cases, the dogs were able to be seized by the charity and transported to the NoToDogMeat Hebei shelter where they are doing well.

The video shows the tense atmosphere of these rescues, and the sheer incredulousness of the meat traders, who seem to think the whole process is funny.

NoToDogMeat’s brave campaigners do this every single week to ensure that as many dogs are saved from torture as possible, and the charity lobbies hard to try and make the Chinese government enforce their own decree that dogs are not food.

Later in the week Julia and the team headed to a shady dog meat market, which took place in the countryside in the Hebei province.

Brave Julia was the only Western face at the market, and recorded images of scared dogs crammed into cages ready to be transported to the meat trade.

One lady who spoke English tried to claim that the dogs were being sold as pets, but the scared and poorly-looking canines told a different story and so does NoToDogMeat intelligence.

Once again dogs were seized by the charity from the meat market, including Carlito, a tiny tea cup dog who is suffering from a leg injury as a result of his ordeal.

The charity has also staged flash mob protests, and is holding a stand at the upcoming Comicon event, in an effort to change hearts and minds.

Julia said: “This is just another week in the life of NoToDogMeat in China. Our brave shelter managers and volunteers work from the moment they wake until late and night to disrupt this terrible trade and help change hearts and minds.

“Our dogs desperately need to find homes abroad, so please consider adopting a meat trade rescue as your pet. You can also donate to help fund our work by pre-ordering a calendar, buying a t-shirt or simply making a small monetary gift.

“We have a big voice but we are very small charity, and we do not have the income of some other organisations who are not on the ground doing this work. Please be assured that your donation goes to help the dogs and cats, like the souls saved this week.”

NoToDogMeat is urgently appealing for funds for a number of dogs to travel to Europe when Julia returns. Please visit www.notodogmeat.com to make a donation or fund out more about adopting a meat trade rescue dog.

A tiny dog whose leg was crushed by being stuffed into a cruel meat market cage has been rescued following a raid by NoToDogMeat.

Representatives from the charity including CEO Julia de Cadenet attended the market this week, to gather intelligence for the United Nations.

It is believed that London-based Julia is the first westerner to ever visit the market in the Hebei province, and the tension was palpable as she walked around the stands.

In China dogs are no longer classed as food following a Government decree, but local authorities do little to enforce the relatively new rules.

In images obtained by the charity from the market, frightened dogs can be seen crammed into cages, as traders barter over their sale.

Julia said: “It is disgraceful that despite the rules meat markets are still happening and people are still trading.

“Many of these dogs are pets who have been rounded up in the nearby villages. This is not sanitary and as well as being unbearably cruel it is also a public health risk. These animals have not been reared for meat, they are people’s pets.”

During the visit a number of dogs were seized by the charity and taken to NoToDogMeat shelters where they will receive the care they need.

This includes Carlito, a tiny dog who had sustained a leg injury during his ordeal. In a video recorded after his rescue, Carlito can be seen whimpering as he lays on a bed in a safe house, ahead of a visit to the vets.

The charity reopened its overseas rehoming programme earlier this year, and desperately needs to raise funds to help the poor pups travel to happy lives in the UK.

The charity is asking that people buy merchandise from the website or pre-order the 2024 calendar to help with their urgent mission.

Julia added: “We have dogs that are ready to travel and need their start, but we need people to come forward and adopt them, or donate to help with their flight costs.

“No donation is too small, and it will all help in our mission to ensure that the dogs we rescue live the happiest lives that they can after all that they have been though.”

To donate, or find out more about rehoming a dog like Carlito go to www.notodogmeat.com