Animal Lovers Save 300 Dogs From Being Slaughtered For Meat In China

Last week, 300 dogs were trapped in a filthy caged dog meat truck for over 10 hours.

Chinese citizens spotted the truck and suspected it to be on its way to Jilin province, home to a well-known dog meat market.

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Those who saw the truck then went on WeChat, a popular messaging app in China, to tell people nearby to try to stop the truck.

Animal rights advocates in the area quickly responded and followed it.

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Peter Li, a Chinese policy specialist with Humane Society International, said that no trucks had ever been successfully stopped before reaching the dog meat market.

Although dog meat consumption is legal in the area, law enforcement investigated whether or not the dogs on board all had certificates for transportation.

Volunteers from China Animal Protection Power soon came, and the truck was eventually stopped.

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“Police confiscated all the dogs, with zero compensation to the traders, and placed them in the care of the volunteers,” Peter said in a statement.

According to Peter, many of the dogs who were rescued looked like typical pet dogs.

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Even with the demand for dog meat, there are no dog farms in China which means most of them are believed to be stolen or stray.

Jilin is a province with a large Korean population, so dog meat markets have used Korean culture as an excuse. They even go so far as to exaggerate ethnic Koreans’ fondness for dog meat to create a high demand.

The rescued dogs are now taken care of and will be put up for adoption.

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“This successful rescue is a huge encouragement to animal activists throughout the country,” Peter said. “It showed that the dog meat trade can be stopped if law enforcement was more strict about it.”