Hannah was literally snatched from the jaws of death in the summer of 2016 while waiting in the holding area of a small slaughterhouse. This picture of her lying on a platform was actually taken inside the slaughterhouse itself on the day she was rescued. Clearly, Hannah was in a very low desperate state by then and she could not know the urgency of her own situation.
Who knows how life had brought her to this point – had she once been a beloved pet? It is usual for gangs in villages to round up dogs from breeding farms, strays and stolen pets keeping them confined in horrific conditions until they are shipped all over China to be used for food and fur. Who knows how long she had been kept without food by this point. She was so weak from starvation that we had to carry her to safety.
Shortly after Yulin, we had travelled there on a tip from our worker who had left the town of Dongbei to see if we could bring back a dozen Samoyeds that had been delivered there days before. Our co-activist Qi Xin Zhao (Mr Zhao) has a quiet determination when it comes to communicating with the workers in such places and was somehow able to talk them into handing over some of the dogs which were held waiting to be brutally killed for their meat – a group of Samoyed dogs and Hannah.
Mr Zhao for some reason seems to have a wonderful way of appealing to the good nature of even the ugliest of traders to get them to hand over dogs. We were determined not to give the slaughterers large sums of money but to negotiate their release if we could through food safety laws or for a pittance. When Yulin ends the horror does not.
Having Samoyeds of my own I could not bear the idea these dogs would suffer. The journey to the slaughterhouse had been long and our open truck was hot and seemed pretty likely to break down.
I cannot even start to describe what we encountered in those 26 hours but in so many ways Dongbei was worse than Yulin. There was no festival atmosphere (not that it would have made things better) just the horrific stark reality of a horror that goes on day after day. Some slaughterhouses can kill up to 400 dogs a day but this place was actually a really small one with less than 20 dogs. The stench was unbearable and we were forced to pick our way through bits old carcass and fur.
Mr Zhao miraculously made a deal on the other dogs and a labrador and then we saw Hannah – a dog with no fur high on the benches all skin and bones. We had no idea even what breed she was and she cost us RMB82 (less than £10). For some reason Samoyeds naturally seem to keep their optimism and joy, and they coped well with the journey back but Hannah was subdued and exhausted so she laid with us in the front.
At the shelter Mr Zhao runs single-handedly dogs are separated according to breed and sex, and since we do not yet have a functioning medical centre we try to isolate the sickest to contain infection. We knew in truth as we placed her with some of the rescued Yulin dogs there was not much we could do but provide as much nutrition as we could.
Over the months her fur grew back in a patchy way consistent with Cushing’s disease and all we wanted was to make her time with us a pain free as possible. There was a sweetness in her eyes (one brown, one blue) that captured our hearts and we advertised for a sponsor and found a lovely man who was able to donate £2.50 a month. This may not sound like a lot but actually for us every penny counts.
When I was back in China before Yulin this year as I raced to see ‘my’ rescued Samoyeds to my great surprise an incredible old English sheepdog came bounding towards me in recognition! She literally hugged me and I was overwhelmed so meet such a bundle of joy and excitement. Our volunteer Anna told me “She knows you – don’t you recognise her?”.
The eyes seemed familiar but I had no recollection of a sheep dog at the shelter. It was Hannah, of course. How strange to see this magnificent iconic British breed sitting there in the sun with her Samoyed friends.
I immediately started the process of getting the necessary shots and rabies test so we could find her a loving home and pretty much straight away an offer came in for her. Sadly, that has since fallen through and as winter has drawn in again her skin condition has come back. She has become depressed and won’t play in the new playground we made for the dogs. She now needs someone who can make her rescue complete – a loving adopter to provide her the safety, security, warmth and affection of a home. Like all our rescued dogs she needs to be cuddled, cherished and loved.
Despite lack of funding we have decided to make the utmost effort to bring her to Europe with some of the Samoyeds, to get them well and let people see first hand the reality of dogs rescued from the dog meat trade. You do not see many rescued dogs like ours who go to live in a basic shelter and are cared for day in day out by the hero who gave up everything to make a difference for them.
The government in China has issued us with a worrying decree that in March 2018 – less than 3 months from now – they intend close us down. They did this to our friend with 26 hours notice in the summer. We now have a daunting challenge to find desperately needed homes for our dogs and cats wherever we can – both inside and outside China.
Social media is so fickle and people just want a fast moving story and latest news. Adopters pick a dog from afar but if they cannot get it now, move onto another pleading face. Hannah has been with Mr Zhao 18 months and just like our other dogs, chows labradors, poodles, whatever they may be, we need to get them to safety. We still have our plans to build a medical shelter and equip a van to attend rescue missions but first have to attend to this new challenge.
We cannot do any of this without your help. Our dogs need real help, not just likes on our posts although we appreciate if you can not help you will share our work.
This is what it costs to bring a medium/large dog to Europe with the incredible deals we have negotiated.
Rabies and other shots £25
Microchipping £5
Blood test and passport £150
Exit health check £110
Travel box £70
Transport to the airport and health check centre £50
Flight with a volunteer on average £250
Transport from Europe to final destination £100
Gift for the ones who stay behind £50
Total = £810
Travel to Europe and the USA is quite similar – EU1000/$1000
A huge sum for some kind-hearted adopters perhaps – yet not impossible. By the time is a dog is selected and prepared to fly with all tests it can take 6 months so that is just £30 a week to raise and we will always help to fundraise.
Hannah’s plight, the cruelty Britain’s most iconic dog was subjected to was unbearable to witness. Let’s bring her to a new home and a loving family. Her loyalty will be worth it.
For more information on adoption please contact us adopt@notodogmeat.com
We know many of you are waiting for updates from Yulin so we want to share with you the information we have from our volunteers and sources on the ground. This year the torture fest has been much, much quieter than any other year. Campaigning has certainly helped but the real progress has come from the amazing Chinese activists.
We spent most of May in China with Mr Zhao who is an absolute hero. He explained how organisations had agreed to boycott buying dogs at Yulin and would all focus their efforts on stopping trucks. We prayed they would be successful. We were horrified to visit villages where they regularly steal dogs and send them up to Dongbei in the north where there are large slaughterhouses.
You may not know but most Chinese activists are just regular people who work in a day job volunteering when they can to make a difference. This year they did. They have stopped numerous trucks and completely disrupted the business of dogs going into Yulin. So much so that just as our photos show there were hardly any sellers at Yulin market.
This however is where the hard work starts.
Rescue is only ever the beginning of a long and often heart-breaking journey.
We run a partner shelter south of Beijing with over 400 dogs and 36 cats looking for love and a home. It’s hard work just feeding them and every month is a trial for Mr Zhao.
Yet right now he and our small team have gone to help the big rescue of 19 June at Guangzhou where over 1300 dogs were stopped from being eaten.
The problem everyone is facing is the villagers have objected to the dogs. Many have died and the police have refused for them to be taken away.
The temporary camp has had to move twice and as you can imagine moving hundreds of sick traumatised dogs is not easy.
We also desperately need to buy some specific medication that is not sold in the province. One box alone costs 125 RMB. (£15) and we are bringing it in from Beijing. We also need more dehydration fluids and medically trained professionals. Although the volunteers have brought supplies and donated from their own money we need finance to pay local vets to attend. They are terrified of infection and there is the risk of distemper.
Can you help? Do you have any contacts who can send us supplies or come and help? Can you donate so Mr Zhao can help contribute to the collective needs? Our plan when we can is to bring as many dogs as we can who are well enough to travel back to our shelter and give them refuge until they too can be rehomed.
NoToDogMeat has a large social media following and we are known for our work throughout Asa but financially we are only small. This is why we need your help. Please consider a regular donation however small and thank you so much to everyone who has supported us to date. We will share live feeds next week so you can see how funds are spent.
With the horrific torture fest of Yulin happening this week despite everyone’s attempts to ban this brutality, we want to share with you some positive news and thank you for all your donations and support. We cannot stop this festival – it’s up to the Chinese government to stop it, or not – but it has significantly reduced in size since we first took to the streets in 2012. Unfortunately media attention and celebrity interest has encouraged butchers to increase the prices they charge for the dogs, and dogs are being shipped in especially just so ‘rescuers’ can buy them only abandoning them to die after the festival has ended. Talk of closing slaughterhouses there has only ever been talk, since most slaughterhouses are makeshift anyway.
It is our decision along with respected groups to boycott Yulin. This does not mean we won’t save dogs bound for slaughter. Our group was one of the first to work with activists in China stopping trucks. It just means we will not hand over money to dog meat butchers and thus increase demand.
Throughout May and this month also we have been staking out warehouses where the stolen pets are kept and working to raid them. These trucks do not just go to Yulin they are on the move in broad daylight regularly to Dongbei which is in the North of China. Here there is a large Korean population and over 400-500 dogs are brutally slaughtered daily.
#SupportTheSolution
Our pledge this Yulin is to take in up to 100 lives and keep them in our shelter south of Beijing caring for them until they find homes. Rescue is only ever the beginning of a long journey for the animals and the people who care for them. On June 21st, our London Team will join protests outside the Chinese Embassy as well as spreading awareness in Chinatown all week. Our CEO Julia also has a meeting with the OIE (World Health Organisation) to discuss our concerns on food safety and reiterate the systematic torture that they fail to address. We do this to stand in solidarity with activists in Asia giving them a voice, and it is also a wonderful way people can meet our rescues.
This year we will have Annabel with us. Annabel is an apricot chow chow, gentle and kind. She was on a truck bound for Yulin in 2015 and her injuries were so bad she lost her eye. Our friend Sarah Pinq rescued her and gave her refuge pending her recovery in her small shelter. Three days before we came to pick up her to start her new life in Europe Sarah’s shelter was demolished with just 36 hours’ notice by the Government of Tianjin. Sarah is now in a holding yard with her 120 dogs and has to start from scratch and we have pledged to help her.
Genuine Hero Rescuers
People like Sarah and our own Mr Zhao who runs our partner’s shelter south of Beijing are the real heroes of Yulin. They work very hard and risk their lives day in day out to make a difference and struggle just to feed the dogs. That is why we need your help to donate whatever you can. With your help we have been able to vaccinate all the dogs previously saved, build a cattery and start to microchip them. Our plan is still to build a medical facility that can be used by other small groups for a low fee helping more dogs and cats and we will let you know more how you can be involved.
Despite the sadness we hope you can enjoy the photos of our lovely rescues needing sponsors and homes and we hope you will take three minutes to watch this wonderful video which shows how dedicated Mr Zhao is.
Oliver was packed tightly in a truck bound for slaughter in the 40 degree heat which was intercepted as part of the #808 Tangshan rescue last year – a truck exactly like the ones who traffic the desperate strays and stolen pets to be slaughtered in Yulin. Often the stand off takes days and while activists and rescuers plead with the police to release the dogs many die from dehydration, too weak to continue. Disease is rife and in Oliver’s case although he tested negative for distemper he had a very serious chest infection and his own coughs could have broken his bones.
In the holding yard, Julia immediately bonded with Oliver, he was so gentle and sweet and despite his matted fur he weighed just a few kilos. It has taken months of care and treatment for him to regain his strength and but now he is a completely different dog to look at and ready to travel to his forever home in Europe.
Right now he is on a flight to Holland. At times like this we know we have truly saved one and not just left him in a yard ‘rescued but forgotten’ which makes our fight seem all the more worthwhile. NoToDogMeat Foundation takes each individual rescued dog seriously and we are pledge to stick with each of our dogs and cats to the end. This means we provide regular follow up with the yards who take them in and ensure they and their fellow rescued dogs receive high quality nutrition, vaccinations and love. Our long term plan to fund veterinary trucks, help improve small shelter conditions and to eradicate air-born virus relies on generous donations from people like yourself. Over the next few weeks we will show you how previous donations have been spent and offer you the chance to help care for the daily needs and offer forever homes to the lucky ones. Unpaid activists who stop trucks on the highway are real unsung heroes. We are here to empower them
After four years of actively campaigning against the dog and cat meat trade in Asia the whole world finally knows not just about Yulin but the barbaric way dogs and cats are brutalised for food and fur. Amazing Actors such as Orlando Bloom and Ricky Gervais have said ‘NoToDogMeat’ and although this year’s festival will still take place, we all hope it will be much smaller with tighter controls. Michael Tien, Hong Kong deputy to China’s legislature met with mainland officials and emphasised the issue of food safety, adding public inhumane slaughter was unacceptable. This will not mean the end of Yulin immediately but huge strides have been made.
In a few weeks Julia will be able update first hand on her own visit to the region but for now we can be encouraged by Oliver’s story rescued from a truck and on his way to his forever home. Just look how well he has done.
There are many ways you can still help : Please sign our petition, continue to follow us on social media and join us at events that will take place all summer.
Over the last week the World has spoken out with a collective voice against the dog and cat meat trade. 11 million Signatures were collected and MP Robert Flello visited the Chinese embassy in person to try and deliver it and the same petition was handed to the authorities in China.
Yesterday NoToDogMeat UK held another demo outside the Chinese Embassy, Portland Place, London and this year we were able to bring our very own dog meat trade survivor Camille to protest with us. We were also joined by around 50 supporters and a reporter from the BBC. Passers by offered their support too.
NoToDogMeat USA, France and Mexico have also joined in the worldwide protest outside Chinese embassies.
International and local groups are on the ground in and around Yulin, stopping trucks, closing down slaughterhouses and alleviating suffering. And let’s not forget the activists throughout China who continue to stop trucks bound for slaughter.
This is a proud moment for the NoToDogMeat Foundation who started the global ‘say no to dog meat movement’ 4 years ago and were the first on the streets saying ‘No More Yulin Angels’.
We have been working to make sure rescuers have the equipment and support they need to save dogs and the ongoing support and care they need to find loving forever homes and change the hearts and minds of a society to accept that Cruelty is Not Cool.
We really want to thank you for all your kind support and ask you to continue donating to help the brave activists whose work will continue for many years to come.
We won’t stop until this ends and we can only do this empowering activists and rescuers on the ground with your help.
This festival is a very meaningful event a big deal with those who love music and have a passion for the arts. This festival starts on May 1st and lasts for three days.
The May Day 3 day break gives people a chance to enjoy music and most of all to enjoy the company of friends to celebrate new up and coming bands and artists.
NoToDogMeat will be supporting our friends TACN Together For Animals in China at this event. We have put together a short video message of #StopYulin2015.
The video was directed and produced by our very own Fia Perera which we are so grateful to have on our NoToDogMeat team. The short video message includes our friends and team members Sue Wong, Tom Kenny, Carolyn Hennessy, Lori Alan, Briana Evigan and William McNamara.
The Strawberry Music Festival it is huge in China and there will be a huge crowd of audiences of every age. It’s a golden opportunity to raise awareness, and importantly to influence many people with positive and compassionate messages from the celebrities on how to bring an end to the abhorrent cat and dog meat trade.
2013 and 2014 showed here at the Strawberry Music Festival was a huge turnout. We are hopeful that our positive message will change hearts and minds – while educating for compassion toward our companions and all animals who are mistreated daily. Because we as a community need to stand up for what we believe in. All life matters including the lives of animals.
YULIN PARTY SECRETARY CALLS FOR A BAN IN THE DOG MEAT SECTION OF THE FESTIVAL
After 3 years of NoToDogMeat campaigning on the streets against Yulin Festival some positive news. News has come in that Yulin pary secretary would like to ban the dog meat section of festival.
Yulin party secretary, Li Jun Green Food and Drug Administration in the office has issued a statement to say.
“This year, if businesses hold the dog section, we will pass a resolution for it to be banned!” He has also applied for the Beijing dog business information disclosure and formally stated at a meeting with lawyers “I want the Yulin Dog Meat Festival banned” .
Secretary Li went on further to confirm the festival was in breach of the People’s Republic of China Food Safety Law.
It has been ten days and we are still waiting formal confirmation,As we all know passing a resolution and its implementation are two different things.However, if this resolution goes through it is a HUGE step to cracking down on the illegal dog meat to see a demise in the trade. Our charity has issued letters of thanks and requested embassy meetings to discuss this matter further.
An action plan of letters you can write will follow soon. We NEED to keep up the pressure.
May is coming up fast upon us and we are preparing our world awareness event for the 18th of May, please if you can join us – for our week May 18th world awareness your voice counts. Our friends from China will be protesting on the 17th.
We know many of you are waiting for updates from Yulin so we want to share with you the information we have from our volunteers and sources on the ground. This year the torture fest has been much, much quieter than any other year. Campaigning has certainly helped but the real progress has come from the amazing Chinese activists.
With the horrific torture fest of Yulin happening this week despite everyone’s attempts to ban this brutality, we want to share with you some positive news and thank you for all your donations and support. We cannot stop this festival – it’s up to the Chinese government to stop it, or not – but it has significantly reduced in size since we first took to the streets in 2012. Unfortunately media attention and celebrity interest has encouraged butchers to increase the prices they charge for the dogs, and dogs are being shipped in especially just so ‘rescuers’ can buy them only abandoning them to die after the festival has ended. Talk of closing slaughterhouses there has only ever been talk, since most slaughterhouses are makeshift anyway.
It is our decision along with respected groups to boycott Yulin. This does not mean we won’t save dogs bound for slaughter. Our group was one of the first to work with activists in China stopping trucks. It just means we will not hand over money to dog meat butchers and thus increase demand.
#SupportTheSolution
This year we will have Annabel with us. Annabel is an apricot chow chow, gentle and kind. She was on a truck bound for Yulin in 2015 and her injuries were so bad she lost her eye. Our friend Sarah Pinq rescued her and gave her refuge pending her recovery in her small shelter. Three days before we came to pick up her to start her new life in Europe Sarah’s shelter was demolished with just 36 hours’ notice by the Government of Tianjin. Sarah is now in a holding yard with her 120 dogs and has to start from scratch and we have pledged to help her.
