Lion was just one of China’s many homeless dogs. He would spend his days wandering street markets and his night sleeping on a market stall shelf.
No one really thought twice about helping the stray.
That’s because China is crawling with them. A 2019 article in China Dialogue estimates there to be 40 million stray dogs in the country, about 20 percent of the global population of strays.
But not everyone is indifferent to the plight of stray dogs in China.
A local reporter notices the pup, filmed him, and posted his story on social media.
When the Northeast Animal Rescue learned about Lion’s struggle they tracked down the reporter to see if they could locate Lion.
Though he wasn’t where the video had shown him to be, Lion was eventually found, even though it was dark and in the middle of the night.
“In China, there are more stray dogs than you can imagine. You can see a lot every day in roads, residential areas, factories, parks, and countryside. We really don’t have the ability to save all the dogs we come across. We have to save the young, the weak, and the endangered first,” Northeast Animal Rescue reports.
China Dialoguee says the problem is caused by farm breeding and lack of sterilization.
Most pets in China come from breeders.
“These farms are just breeding factories. The animals aren’t cared for at all. They’re just kept alive,” Deng Muxing told China Diagloue.
Their lives are straight out of a horror story.
“Cats and dogs kept for breeding spend their entire life in cages and females are given injections to keep them in heat. Animals that go unsold can still turn a profit: they are kept in captivity and their blood is harvested for sale to vets,” Cai Chunhong says.
And owning a pet is kind of like owning a luxury handbag in the country.
“They’re not keeping pets because they love pets, but because it’s trendy. They don’t keep them long before finding it too much work and abandoning the pets. Many pets end up as strays.”
And no one is sterilizing the strays which are believed to be the main cause of the stray boom.
The Northeast Animal Rescue says that Lion is now living a happy and healthy life since he’s been rescued.
Their video shows him looking cleaned up and frolicking in some grass with the people in shirts with the organization’s name on it.
“We are a regional homeless animal rescue organization, has been committed to the homeless animal rescue, treatment, shelter, provide suitable living conditions for animals, to ensure that each animal can receive adequate nutrition food and warm and comfortable accommodation. Here, the animals are no longer lonely and melancholy, they are enjoying the playfulness of their companions, they can be well cared for by the staff, and a large number of volunteers are constantly coming to visit them. All of this has made our institution known as an animal sanctuary,” their website says.
The China-based animal rescue’s website is in English and can be found here. The organization was also featured on The Dodo, however, we couldn’t confirm any further details about the organization and how they spend their funds so use your own discretion before donating to this organization or any organization.
You can watch Lion’s rescue in the video below.
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