(This article is an additional summary of our website's blog article Global Animal Protection First Action. Both articles talk about the same rescue story)
Newsletter Nov.11, 2020
At around 7pm, the person in charge of GAPI China was contacted by the volunteers in Wuhan. We received a message requesting help once again. Several dogs were found to be slaughtered at the same stall in the same farmer's market. Thanks to the rescue event of saving five dogs last time in the market, the head of GAPI China got familiar with many more rescue volunteers. A WeChat group was set up after discussion. Through this WeChat group, the members were able to contact other volunteers in Wuhan as fast as possible to save more dogs on slaughtering sites, and arrange evidence collections for relevant department to take actions. There were more stalls where dogs were being killed in the above mentioned market.
Based on the experiences gained in the successful rescue last time, the volunteers collaborated tacitly and acted quickly. Early in the second morning after the message was received, nearly 10 volunteers arrived at the destination. It was really unfortunate that there were only 3 dogs left at the stall. In order to protect the 3 poor puppies, our front line volunteers and remote volunteers worked together closely. The remote volunteers called the Mayor’s hotline and relevant law enforcement department while the front line volunteers took photos and videos to collect evidence and negotiated with the stall owner. As there was no applicable clause in law, there was no way to ban such stalls right away. In the end, the GAPI team bought the 3 dogs to ensure that they were not killed. Subsequently, they were also sent to the home base in Wuhan. In the meantime, the volunteers also noticed that there were at least three hot pot restaurants selling dog meat along with a dog meat restaurant near this market. The volunteers took photos as evidences, and called the Mayor’s hotline to report this situation. Fortunately the head of GAPI in China first received the hotline's response, and then other volunteers got replies as well. The reply stated that the law enforcement officers arrived at the site and 12.5 kg of dog meat was seized. The stall owner was warned that it would be filed for investigation once any dog meat trading invoice was found. We would be updated once results came out. Thanks to the joint efforts from everyone, the stall was closed, and it will be forbidden to kill and sell live dogs at this market from now on.
In the year of 2020, due to the pandemic, a policy was issued that no wild animal hunting and/or eating would be allowed. A case will be filed and investigated once such activity is found. Unfortunately there are still many people who do not know the policy very well. It will be too late once the red line is overstepped.
To explain in short what could be eaten and what should not be eaten, here is a tip for definition of "wild animal": everything that is not on the regulated poultry/livestock/seafood list should not be eaten. Saying it once again as it is critical: everything that is not on the list should not be eaten. Violation of the law is defined as illegal/criminal once verified.
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