MORE THAN 1000 CAGED DOGS RESCUED IN CHONGQING, CHINA JAN 15th 2012

At 10 pm on January the 15th of 2012, a couple on their way home to Chongqing, southeast of China, found a truck on the highway of Chengdu-Chongqing, filled with over one thousand caged dogs. Thanks to the couple who dialled 110 when they saw this, the police were able to apprehend the drivers of the truck at the next toll station. It was counted later that 1132 dogs

were squeezed into miniscule cages being transported thousands of miles to the Guangdong Province, in the south of China, to be slaughtered and eaten at various restaurants.
 
At 11 pm messages were spreading over the internet through micro blogs such as Chinese Twitter, causing Mr. Chen Ming Cai （陈明才）, the founder of the Chongqing Small Animal Protection Association (CQSAPA) and other volunteers to arrive at the scene. The situation was handled well by the police officers who helped volunteers give water to the caged dogs and removed the cages from the truck later as well.
 
After many long negotiations for more than 20 hours, it was finally at 6 pm on the 16th of January that the dogs were released to the Chong Qing Small Animal Protection Association (CQSAPA). Officers from several local governments with the help of skilled animal rights attorneys, Ms. Cai Chuen Hong（蔡春红律师）and Mr. An Xiang（安翔律师）, who communicated over the phone from Beijing, and were able to ensure all dogs were rescued and cared for without having to pay a cent to the dog nappers.
 
The dog nappers were found to have a Certificate of Quarantine for the truck of dogs, but it was later found that not only did was the certificate for 780 dogs, not over 1100, it was also fake and had a forged signature. The poor dogs were crammed into the truck which had eight levels, which meant over 100 dogs were crowded into one level each. Some dogs were found dead from the severe conditions in the truck, and a female dog was found to have given birth to four puppies during the negotiations. Many thanks goes out to Dr. Li, (重庆圣心动物医疗中心李院长http://weibo.com/vetnet ), a veterinarian from Chongqing, who has been working for over three days and nights to treat injured dogs and take care of the mother and her new born puppies.  Many of the dogs were found wearing clothes because of the cold winter, which were obviously from the dogs’ owners. Many were also wearing collars, indicating that many dogs were kidnapped from their rightful owners. This is a terrible crime and must be stopped in China. The dogs could be heard whining and whimpering, in obvious distress over being crammed into such small places. 
 
Thanks also goes out to the Bureau of Agriculture of the Central Government who have announced 《Six New Regulations for Veterinarians over the whole of the country from January 1st 2012, which seeks to forbid Vets from issuing certificates of animal quarantines out to people》. Hopefully this will stop anymore bad people like this from transporting many dogs to restaurants to be eaten. Many animal advocates have already been contacting the Bureau of Agriculture regarding the new regulations in place, calling for them to detain and prosecute the people who had kidnapped the dogs and forged a fake certificate, as well as make the regulations actual laws which will prohibit people from issuing these certificates. 
 
This is a large step for animal rights in China in 2012, and hopefully things will continue to go this way. It is wonderful to see that everyone’s hard work towards animal rights has not gone to waste. It can be seen that on April the 15th of 2011, 500 dogs were rescued in Beijing where volunteers were forced to pay 115,000 RMB (USD 18,000) in negotiations in order to have the dogs released, and 80,000 RMB (US$12,000) was also paid to get 900 dogs to be released in Zigong on October the 14th of 2011. This is a big difference from now, where the volunteers were able to get over 1000 dogs released to the rescuers without having to pay anything in negotiations.  Rescuers should not be forced to pay money in order to release dogs, in fact, the opposite should be done and dog nappers should be sued for subjecting poor animals to such cruel actions.
It took a lot of time and hard work to remove all the dogs from their cages in the trucks to be transported to larger cages which were donated by loving volunteers. All of the dogs received a medical checkup before being transported in three trucks being replaced. CQSAPA was established in 2005 by Mr. Chen Ming Cai, and since then there have been thousands of dogs rescued before the latest one, while the shelter itself has around 800 dogs that are being cared for by him and his wife with the help of the volunteers. The maintenance of the shelter mostly comes from donations by loving people. Anyone interested in adopting a dog from the shelter can do so by contacting Mr. Chen Ming Cai, phone no: 86 130 3239 9871. We encourage people to adopt dogs from shelters like these instead of buying a dog from a store, as this will help decrease the overpopulation of dogs in China.
 
Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped by staying up overnight and working diligently to have all dogs rescued and safe, this could not have gone through without them. Please see the links below to read more about the rescue and to see pictures of the poor dogs, who are all safe and cared for now. We must all view this event as the start to a better life for the animals of China, and continue to rise to the challenge of saving these animals.  We welcome the growing appreciation and awareness for the care of animals increasing all over China.
 
Briefly translated by Joy Gao 金椒妈
Jan 18th 2012
 
Thanks and gratitude goes out to:
Chong Qing Small Animal Protection Association (CQSAPA)
The loving volunteers and citizens of Chongqing
The officers from Chongqing government
The Media of Chongqing
The many web friends both from inside and outside of China
Ms. Cai Chuen Hong and Mr. An Xiang, animal rights attorneys from Beijing
The Bureau of Agricultural of Central Government
 
Bank information of Chong Qing Small Animal Protection Association:
Bank Name:      Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Chongqing Branch
Account Name:   Chen Ming Cai (Chen is family name, Ming Cai is first name)
Account No:        6222 0231 0000 4511 353
Swift Code:       
Cell Ph： 86 130 3239 9871
http://www.weibo.com/1744821663/y0Y5ECAwC
 
中国工商银行 重庆高滩岩支行
开户名:陈明才
帐号:6222 0231 0000 4511 353
电话：130 3239 9871
 
The link of Chong Qing Small Animal Protection Association-重庆小动物保护协会 http://weibo.com/u/1744821663
 
<Six New Regulations from The Bureau of Agriculture of the Central Government>
农业部发布畜牧兽医行政执法六条禁令：
http://www.agri.gov.cn/V20/ZX/nyyw/201112/t20111231_2449925.htm
 
Chongqing! 1.15 The city with no sleep, welcoming the sunrise of the Animal Rights in the New Year!
重庆1.15，彻夜未眠的城市，迎来动保2012新曙光 – 海之梦
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_81f6173e0100zlb9.html