One of many Chinese animal rescue voluntary groups and individuals' daily tasks is trying to prevent the dirty dealings of dog meat, because despite the dog meat industry has been there for, almost, ever, there are very few private farms to raise dogs for eating propose, restaurants serve dog meat dishes actually purchase most or all their supplies from 'local dealers' all over the country. Dogs sold to restaurants are mainly homeless dogs captured on local streets, and some are even stolen or robbed away from dog owners, besides, there's no difference between a mix or a pure-blood Caucasian Ovcharka, the price of all dogs are exactly same - 14RMB or even less (about $2)/kg. The 'battle' of dogs between Chinese pet lovers and local dealers simply happens every day, but this one happened in Beijing was a special and yet unique one - It was firstly tweeted on Chinese Twitter around 11AM on April 15 that two volunteers of China Small Animal Protection Association spotted a truck full with dogs on the Beijing-Harbin Highway and managed to intercept it. The driver admitted that the truck was heading to Changchun, Jilin Province, and the total 497 dogs are 'ordered' by restaurants located in nearby cities. However, only two volunteers were hard to completely prevent the truck, and the policemen were not interested in helping. The retweeting started immediately among all the pet networks in Beijing, several hours later it was tweeted that over 300 volunteers carried in at least 100 private cars were gathered on the Highway, they brought a mass of food and water for those prisoned dogs, and their cars were parked to block the truck's way. CSAPA also got in touch with the local police station and Quarantine Department for supports.The driver showed a certification issued by a local quarantine department of Henan Province to the police, and claimed that all the dogs they delivered were legally 'taken over' with a payment of 7RMB(about $1.07) per dog.However, it was easy to tell even from tiny photos that the dogs prisoner on the truck even including breeds like Husky, Golden Retriever and Labrador, which meant there's no way the driver could purchase them only at a price of 7RMB from their owners; some of the dogs even had collars around their necks, since vaccine is requested for every home dog in China, it was definitely impossible those dogs could pass the quarantine and to be allowed to serve on table, since it is a common knowledge that meat with dog vaccine is bad for human.The dogs were lack of food and water and nearly packed in those narrow cages, volunteers tried to feed all of the dogs but it was hard to reach those ones stuck in the middle of the cages, at the same time they also had to be very careful when feeding, because the dogs might fight each other for food due to serious hunger.A group of vets and nurses were there to clean wounds and feed the dogs with physiological saline, water was also sprinkled to the cages by volunteers to lower the temperature, however it was still painful for the dogs to bear, and there were already some dead bodies on the truck.Only one dog was permitted to release by the police due to serious injuries, while the other dogs were still struggling in the cages. The police refused to re-run a quarantine on the dogs although the certification provided by the driver was very questionable, and their only suggestion to volunteers and CSAPA was either to buy those dogs from the driver, or to let the truck leave, fake certification or not was not their business.Pictures and latest news were constantly posted and spread on twitter, people who retweeted including pop idols, actors, media producers and so on, and some of them as well as several major news media even arrived at the site. Volunteers there also began to raise money in case they must pay to take over the dogs from the truck owner.After over 13 hours of waiting and requesting, at the time of 1AM on April 16, the police finally allowed a negotiation between the truck owner and volunteers, the truck owner agreed to release all the dogs with a price, and the representative of Shanngshan Animal Charity Fund, a charity under China Charity Federation offered to pay. However, except the representative, all the other volunteers were urged to wait behind the guard line, which was at least 200 meters away from the truck.At the time of 2:06AM, the negotiation was done with 100,000 RMB($15,130) to release all the dogs, Shangshan Animal Charity Fund and LeePet.com, a leading pet supplies and services company in China, each paid 50,000 RMB and signed the contract with truck owner to activate the deal. After 15 hours of waiting and with over 300 volunteers' efforts, the dogs who managed to survive after the long suffering finally got their deserved freedom! The amounts of rescued dogs (less than 497 now, since some of them didn't make it...), participated volunteers and private cars, and people who followed this entire progress on twitter are all shocking new records. There is currently not any animal protection act in China, all the animal rescues and homeless animal cares have to be done by unofficial groups and individuals, so it is always extremely difficult when it comes to save dogs or cats from dirty dealers because there's no document to support the rescue. With this huge and completely voluntary achievement, it may draw a lot more public attentions on stopping the dogs and cats killing, and force the government to take notice on this issue, which may increase the possibilities of publishing the first animal protection law in China.This is 8:36 AM in the morning now, mind you, the rescue is STILL GOING!!! Right after the negotiation was done the truck owner was asked to transfer all the dogs to the base of CSAPA at once, and all the 100 cars driven by volunteers followed the truck all the way to the base! More dog lovers and vets joined the group at the base to help settle-down the dogs, and materials like medicines, beds and beddings will also be collected over the city and delivered to the base within today. More than 10 people have already applied to adopt some of the dogs, and CSAPA has also started to accept donations to help treat and settle those dogs.If you are a pet lover, please say a prayer for the dogs and cats in China who have already lost their lives due to slaughter and abuse; and also prayer for those who still or will be living here to be safe and happy as every single creature deserves.
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