Over 500 Caged Dogs Rescued By Animal Lovers In China's Yunnan Province

More than 500 dogs destined for the slaughterhouse -- and the dinner plate -- were saved when the truck that was transporting them was intercepted by about 200 animal lovers in China last week, China Daily reports.

The rescue effort began on the night of April 19th, when a message went viral on Weibo -- a social media platform akin to Twitter -- urging people to stop a dog-filled truck that was driving along the the Fumin-Kunming Highway in Yunnan Province.

Within 30 minutes, hundreds of Chinese activists and local police had gathered at the highway's toll station where the truck was due to pass through, Chinese newspaper Yunnan News reports.

When the truck finally arrived, those gathered were horrified at the sight of 505 dogs trapped in 156 small cages.

"They were crammed together. A cage could be stuffed with seven to eight. Our hearts were broken in seeing that," said one activist.

Unable to free the dogs immediately due to police protocol, volunteers spent the night feeding and treating the animals, the Daily Mail reports.

According to China Daily, many of the animals were discovered to be sick or injured and more than 20 of them were found dead.

The following day, the police stunned the volunteers when they announced that the truck driver had legitimate documents and that the transportation of the dogs had not been illegal, Yunnan News reports.

China is one of nine countries were eating dogs is legal.

Many animal lovers, however, have remained unconvinced and believe that the dogs were being trafficked illegally.

"More than 100 dogs are family pets, like a golden retriever. Why would a factory raise such pets for food? They are obviously stolen," said an organizer of an animal shelter named Yao, who declined to give his full name.

Refusing to let them go, a local businessman and animal lover who wanted to remain anonymous, then bought the dogs for $9,500. Volunteers have since also raised almost $8,000 to provide food and shelter for the animals until homes can be found for them.

"Many of them are suffering from dehydration, malnutrition or infectious diseases and they are very weak," said Zhao Yue, a veterinarian at the shelter and an associate professor, adding that he hopes the dogs will all soon be healthy and ready for adoption.

Last year, the Associated Press reported a similar dog rescue on a Beijing highway, when about 200 volunteers saved 580 dogs from death.

These two rescues are examples of successful social activism in a country where animal rights are an almost unrecognized issue and animal welfare legislation is practically non-existent.

However, with celebrities like basketball star Yao Ming helping to energize China's animal rights movement, it is hoped that positive changes are in the near future for China -- and its animals.

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Comments

[Le President Ki Retrecit]

07:01 PM on 04/15/2013

Analise Perry asked to see a "dog rescue". Here, a Chinese animal lover consoles a dog after a convoy of trucks carrying some 500 dogs to be sold as meat, were stopped along a highway in Beijing, on early April 17, 2011, and the dogs were later rescued by the China Animal Protection Association. (AFP/Getty Images)

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/req041213/r37_12279756.jpg

[Alana Wyst]

07:26 AM on 04/11/2013

Thanks for covering this story, the press makes a tremendous difference in situations like these, karma points are certainly coming your way.

[celine30]

06:35 PM on 04/10/2013

As we speak there is a dog rescue going on in the city Kumning.
a truck with 250 dogs was stopped in Kunming at Yunnan Province on the 11pm 7th of April with the help from local police. The dogs were very sick and some dogs were already passed away.
Though with a lot of sick dogs, the quarantine certificate was still issued by quarantine officer in Baoshan (where the dogs came from, 6 hours driving to Kunming). The dog napper got over 30 criminals around there, with the volunteers were only 5 girls and few men, they were with dogs for another night 0n 8th as well, the poor dogs were touching volunteers hand tightly, desperately wanted their lives to be rescued. It is hard to image the rescue scene with this bad condition.
The quarantine certificate was found completely fake, even with the hand written after the first fake one without the stamps, and the date was removed; the dogs are dying without food and water for many days already, the volunteers will be this night again, three nights with dogs still on the truck! Heartbroken!Please take action.
Its clear these trades are against the law and are further more a serious health hazard!
let us stop this dog meat and fur trade for good.
Corrupt local police is playing judge when they should to their job!
Instead they are working together with mafia dog meat traffickers.
careforchineseanimals.net/2013/04/08/4-07-kunming-dog-rescue/

[celine30]

06:38 PM on 04/10/2013

http://vimeo.com/63687864

[twinklesvw]

08:59 PM on 08/08/2012

"THANK YOU" to these wonderful people who saved these dogs! It's totally sickening that this goes on in this day and age. China and other countries need to be 'educated' in how and why the planet has these companion animals. Those in charge need to alter laws for the well being of all the animals who make our world a happier place. Wise up China. We are not living in the 'dark ages'......cruelty along with ignorance has to STOP ...and NOW !!!!

[Ammalie]

09:16 AM on 07/11/2012

Since the economic boom, living standards have shot through the roof. I'm an American currently living in China, and clothing is no longer cheap. Most goods (aside from food, food in China is dirt cheap) are as expensive if not more than the United States. Also, if you are paying for a dog that needed to be stolen and transported, I doubt it's cheaper than the veggie or PORK meat buns you could buy for one yuan a piece.

I agree, I feel like being a vegetarian is a luxury (being a vegetarian myself) and only middle and upper class people can afford to be vegetarians. However, dog meat is no longer a cheap meat source either. And people in China are now pet crazy! 8 year ago, no one owned a dog, and now everyone I know (including my own relatives) own dogs. It is now culturally unacceptable to eat dogs to most middle class chinese people...

[Bunny007]

07:03 PM on 05/07/2012

The suffering of these intelligent animals-- man's best friend, that would lay down their life for someone that was basically kind to them, is unimaginable..packed into filthy wire cages like sardines with no food or water for God knows how long.. It is a gut-wrenching sight that the world NEEDS TO SEE if anything will ever change.

Kudos to the activists in China who are trying to change things!!

[Bunny007]

06:53 PM on 05/07/2012

THANK YOU Huff Po for running these stories----please keep up the great work!!

As hard as they are to read, stories like this are they only way we can educate the world what is happening.

I hope and pray that these poor dogs find loving homes--- and that the majority of the Chinese will stop eating dog meat!!

[summer261987]

01:11 AM on 05/02/2012

hope they could find loving families to adopt the dogs.

[Lucy Van Pelt]

07:48 PM on 04/30/2012

God bless those people who stopped this atrocity! Keep up the good work animal lovers. Social Networking has been a blessing for animals, so keep tweeting and posting on your FB pages about animal abuses wherever they exist!

[Hugatreetoday]

02:13 PM on 04/30/2012

Bless those activists souls. I hope they can bring about real changes. These stories both break my heart and give me hope.

[narcocorrido]

05:48 PM on 04/29/2012

"""Activists Save 500 Dogs From Chinese Slaughterhouse"""

Unfortunately, they were then delivered to the White House back kitchen entrance.

Yummy!

[Twistmy Gears]

11:28 AM on 04/29/2012

LARGE KUDOS to the activist and especially the man that bought them. I pray they all find a loving well deserved furever home.. Heart Wrenching to say the least. We take upon the human race to pass judgement of those below us on the food chain of their fates.. we suck

[June25]

09:38 PM on 04/28/2012

So what do they plan to do with the dogs anyway.

[narcocorrido]

05:48 PM on 04/29/2012

Obama has dibs.

[Joseph Shmoseph]

06:03 PM on 04/28/2012

Good job.

The only way we'll ever stop reading stories like this for all of us to become part of a profound revolution in the way we treat our fellow animals. Going vegetarian is an essential part of this process. Until people stop eating animals, this kind of large scale cruelty will continue to happen every day, every year, forever.

[saveourplanet]

05:32 PM on 04/28/2012

BRAVO and GOOD JOB Chinese Animal Activists!

KEEP UP the good work on behalf of our 4-legged friends!