Rescuing dogs and cats from the dog meat trade is a small but important part of our work to end this cruelty. In China, through our amazing partner groups, we’ve helped rescue thousands of dogs and cats from slaughter trucks and slaughterhouses. In South Korea, we’ve permanently shut down 18 dog meat farms since 2015, and rescued more than 2,700 dogs flown to the USA, UK, Canada and the Netherlands for adoption. So far, 38 dogs and 2 cats have been re-homed in the UK, many of whom act as ambassadors for our campaign.
Our South Korean dog farm closures are a key part of our broader strategy to demonstrate to the South Korean government a working model for a state-sponsored, nationwide closure of farms. We have been working directly with farmers who have expressed a desire to end their involvement in the industry, identifying ways to shut down the farms and transition to humane livelihoods, such as sustainable crop-growing businesses. See the latest updates on our Facebook page.
How to volunteer
HSI does not deploy volunteers to assist with dog meat farm closures (nor disaster aid), as we have specialists and trained teams to carry out this work. At our emergency shelter in Montreal, volunteers help HSI/Canada rehabilitate rescued animals, clean their cages on a daily basis and socialize them so they can be ready for placement through our partners.
HSI’s partner groups, VShine and Capital Animal Welfare Association, run animal hospital or shelter facilities in Beijing and Dalian, China, and accept volunteers for a minimum of 2 weeks. Volunteers with specific animal care, shelter management, animal behaviour or veterinary skills are ideal, but generalist volunteers are also welcome to apply to help clean out, feed and walk the animals. Accommodation may be provided. Apply by emailing vshine@vip.163.com with the subject line: Application for Volunteer Work.
How to adopt
To see the dogs who are looking for their forever homes, please visit our re-homing partners, Chimney Farm (scroll to bottom of page). You can express interest in adoption via their online form here. Another of our regular partner shelters is All Dogs Matter, who have dogs and cats looking for homes all year round. Check them out here.