
With an estimated 10 million dogs killed for the meat trade in China every year, it’s impossible not to feel overwhelmed with deep sadness by the scale of suffering. No rescue, no matter how dedicated, could ever save them all.
The images and videos I’ve seen will stay with me forever. Do I consider myself fortunate that I have never witnessed the full extent of the suffering in person? I’m not sure.
Nothing could compare to standing in front of them, looking into their eyes, and knowing that, for so many, no help will come. Their lives will not be spared.
Admiration doesn’t come close to describing what I feel for the team at NoToDogMeat. Day after day, they stand on the front lines, bearing witness to unimaginable suffering while continuing to fight for every life they can save. It takes extraordinary courage to keep returning, knowing you cannot save them all, yet refusing to stop trying.
The team behind the scenes, writing and sharing the stories, crafting the pleas in social media posts, trying to convey the suffering with compassion and honesty. They ask for help when it sometimes feels like a perilous journey towards failure, knowing that even their greatest efforts will never be enough to save them all.
The success stories bring moments of joy, but they also carry the weight of everything that could not be changed. They feel what you feel: the exhaustion, the deep despair, and those moments when it feels as though love itself has been lost.
I’m already fighting back tears as I write the opening paragraph of this blog. I look at my own dogs and cannot begin to imagine them enduring such unimaginable suffering. It is impossible to comprehend how anyone could inflict such cruelty or become so devoid of compassion.
Yet, despite the heartbreak, I feel compelled to write.
These dogs die without ever having a name. No one celebrates their birthdays; yes, some of us proudly spoil our dogs every year, celebrating each milestone. No one ever discovers their favourite toy or watches them sprint after a tennis ball with uncontainable joy. No one laughs at their silly habits or tells them they’re a good girl or a good boy.
Instead, they are reduced to a number. Another life that passes through the trade without ever knowing what it feels like to belong to someone who loves them.
Every single one of them deserved so much more.
I remember seeing a post once where someone asked why they shared photos of the dogs who had already been lost to the trade. Their message was simple:
“They lived. They suffered. They mattered. They deserve to be remembered.”
They were right.
Some of those dogs have stayed with me ever since, their faces etched into my memory. I remember their eyes, their fear, and the lives they never had the chance to live. Remembering them is the least we can do. Forgetting them would mean they suffered in silence.
I think of the dogs who were once family pets, surrendered or sold into the dog meat trade, and how unimaginable that betrayal must be. Discarded like rubbish, as though the love they once knew was nothing more than a word without meaning.
Then I think of the strays who were captured. Dogs who had already known hunger, fear, and hardship, only to be met with an even crueller fate. Different journeys, the same tragic ending.
I think of the dogs stolen from their families. The dogs are treated as commodities in commercial breeding and breeding for shows, discarded when they are no longer considered profitable. The unsold puppies and unwanted litters. The retired breeding dogs. Those born into the meat trade, never knowing a life beyond the cage. My heart shatters. I wish I had the power to stop this, and I know you do too.
If they had a voice.
Confined to a cage, crammed in so tight,
The pain, the thirst, no energy to fight.
That frightening feeling, that overwhelming fear.
I thought my owner loved me, and now I’ve ended up here.
A stray, a lost soul, taken from the street,
Kicked, shoved, torn down and beat.
I can’t move; I’m here with so many more.
I feel so panicked; I’ve never been this scared before.
I’ve heard the stories; few survive.
I know of the torture, endless till we are no longer alive.
You looked away and made this choice.
I deserved love, and you were supposed to be my voice…
A dog does not understand the politics, the arguments surrounding culture, the economics, or the wider trade. They only understand fear, pain, love, and betrayal.
These are the realities of the trade that NoToDogMeat fights against every day: the suffering of the dogs and cats caught within it, the lives behind the statistics, and the voices that cannot speak for themselves
We cannot forget the ones without names.
So be brave enough to look at their pictures. Remember them. Honour them.
Do not be angry at the rescuers who could not save them all. They are carrying the weight of knowing that every life matters, while facing the impossible reality that there will always be more who need help.
Instead, let that anger become something meaningful. Turn it into action. Foster. Donate. Attend peaceful protests. Share their stories. Stand beside those fighting for them.
Think of what those with no names have inspired. They’ve inspired you. To be part of change, to make a difference. Their legacy has to live on.
Because the ones we could not save still deserve to be remembered, and the ones still waiting deserve us to keep fighting.

Julie Gledhill
Staff Writer

For years, I had supported NoToDogMeat, watching in admiration as Julia, Mr Zhao and their small team risked everything to save dogs and cats from one of the cruellest trades imaginable. Julia has sacrificed more than most people could ever comprehend to build this remarkable charity, even selling her family home to keep its mission alive. Alongside Mr Zhao and the rescue team, she regularly puts her own safety at risk, confronting the criminals who steal beloved pets, breed animals for profit, imprison them in horrific conditions and condemn them to unimaginable cruelty, all for financial gain. Their courage has given thousands of innocent animals a second chance at life.


















The true meaning of rescuing a dog is not simply giving an animal a home; it is choosing to stand in the fragile space between suffering and hope. All our dogs are based in China, rescued from the dog meat trade, and many arrive carrying experiences no living being should ever endure, marked by fear, uncertainty, and a deep mistrust of the world around them.


















I have nothing but praise and admiration for you brave souls.I could not do what you do,I’d have to arm myself to kill the evil brutes perpetuating this cruelty.So instead I give a monthly donation with a little extra when asked, to help you in your Godly mission.
I love you all and appreciate so much what you are doing.May God Bless You!❤️