(CN) FW: Urgent dog rescue appeal from Animals Asia

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22 January, 2009 5:14 PM

john

Urgent dog rescue appeal from Animals Asia

 

Rescued from meat traders, they need your help now!

 

Dear John,

 

I hope you had a great New Years' Eve and are looking forward to the Year of the

Ox!

 

For us, it was a bumpy start to the year - elation at being involved in the

first major rescue of " meat dogs " from a trader in China, but also sadness

at seeing the state of the dogs and the knowledge that millions of others

are still trapped in this brutal industry.

 

It all started on New Year's Eve when the Qiming Rescue Centre, a dog

shelter in Chengdu, asked for our help. The authorities in nearby Pengzhou

had just confiscated 149 dogs from an unlicensed trading station (after a

tip-off from Qiming staff) and the dogs were on their way to the shelter.

 

http://www.animalsasia.org/temp/UserFiles/542_1.jpg

 

Our first sight of the dogs was shocking.

 

A small team, including one of our vets and a vet nurse, quickly grabbed

medical supplies and headed for the shelter. We arrived just as the truck

carrying the dogs pulled in. I couldn't believe what we were witnessing! It

was horrible in every sense of the word - the stench (so familiar from our

visits to live animal markets), the blood-curdling cries coming from the

cages as the terrified dogs bit into each and, as always, the terrible

feeling we all get when we look into the haunting, sad eyes of these

beautiful animals.

 

I hate to think how long they had been in those cages, many of them packed

in so tightly that they were piled on top of each other. Some of the dogs

were shaking with anxiety, while others were rigid with fear. Many were

suffering terribly and showing symptoms of parvovirus, distemper and kennel

cough. Most were skeletal and their coats filthy from being excreted and

urinated on by the top layer of dogs.

 

http://www.animalsasia.org/temp/UserFiles/542_2.jpg

 

Our volunteer vet nurse Helena tends to the dogs.

 

Animals Asia is health-checking the dogs, treating their wounds, vaccinating

them and, sadly, euthanising those that are just too sick to save or so

aggressive that we could not rule out rabies or other diseases; these dogs

are also a serious risk to other dogs and handlers. The process is ongoing,

but we hope many of the dogs will recover and find good homes. However,

these are the lucky ones - this year alone, millions of other dogs (and

cats) will be slaughtered in the most brutal manner in hellish meat markets

in China.

 

http://www.animalsasia.org/temp/UserFiles/542_3.jpg

 

Many of the dogs were chronically ill and weak.

 

They will be crammed together into tiny cages, loaded onto trucks and driven

day and night for four or five days with no food or water (if they are

lucky, they might be hosed down, just to keep them alive). Once at the

markets in southern China, they will be bludgeoned across the face, stabbed

and bled out, or slowly, torturously beaten to death in the misguided belief

that their meat will taste better if they are panic-stricken at the point of

death. The same fate awaits millions of cats - some of them are even boiled

alive.

 

What is so encouraging about this rescue is that it was a local

animal-welfare centre that alerted the authorities about the unlicensed

trader and, for the first time, the authorities actually confiscated the

dogs! This is a wonderful example of Chinese people standing up and saying

" no " to the cruel dog-eating trade - and it underpins our education efforts

to stop demand and bring this industry to an end.

 

Many of the dogs were wearing collars and a number of them were pure-bred;

these were possibly stolen pets; others had been collected as strays from

the streets, bred in dingy cages on dog farms or raised in rural houses

purposefully for meat.

 

At the moment, Qiming Rescue Centre has only cramped room to house these new

dogs - at least temporarily - as we revamp and upgrade the facility and help

them recover from their terrible trauma while they await adoption.

 

http://www.animalsasia.org/temp/UserFiles/542_4.jpg

 

Animals Asia's Christie comforts some of the survivors.

 

We have much work to do, as the bitterly cold winter months close in on us,

including more weatherproofing, extending the roof to cover many more dog

runs, concreting the enclosures and runs and making dry, wooden-box beds.

With the added expense of food and medical care, this is going to be a

costly process.

 

All the money raised in this appeal will go directly to the care of the dogs

at the Qiming shelter. Any remaining when our work there is finished, will

go to our ongoing campaigns to end dog-and-cat eating.

 

Already, dogs that ran away whenever we walked into the enclosures are now

slowly approaching us with cautious tail wags and trusting eyes. Some will

stand nervously as we gently stroke their fur - but when we stop they will

turn towards us shyly asking for more. Somehow I think they know they're the

lucky ones - but there is still a long way to go.

 

Right now, these poor dogs need your help! Please send a donation, however

small, to help us save them - and maybe turn some into animal-therapy

" ambassador " dogs.

 

 

Warm wishes,

 

Jill Robinson MBE

Founder and CEO

Animals Asia Foundation

 

PS: This year is going to be particularly hard for us with the global

economic crisis. So please, even if you can afford only a small amount, your

donation will be greatly appreciated. Money goes a long way in China, and I

guarantee that none of it will be wasted.

 

For more information, visit Jill's Blog: www.animalsasia.org/blog

To donate now, please go to our website: www.animalsasia.org