The Story of FuNiu

In September 2020, Rachel, the head of GAPI in China, received a call for help: a young Husky was abandoned in a residential complex in Shanghai and needed rescue. The volunteers rushed to rescue the female dog, but she had been sent to a dog detention center. After multiple efforts, the volunteers finally rescued the husky from the dog detention center.

The poor dog was still in panic and was quickly sent to a pet hospital for medical evaluation. After confirming that there was no major health problem, she was sent to a designated animal protection base in a suburban area of Shanghai that GAPI cooperates with for quarantine observation.

Since she was sent from GAPI, the staff in charge of the base took special care of her and put her into a private room on the upper floor with better conditions in order to give her care alone. Much to the astonishment of her caretaker, the young Husky, who had just escaped from her misery, quickly adapted to the new environment. She swept away her previous fears, and carried the spirit of Huskies to the extreme. It didn’t take long for the young Husky to slip out of the private room, bouncing, jumping and singing out loud with cheer all the way to the ground floor where she quickly mingled with some new friends of her kind who lived there. After efforts to stopping her were in vain, the base staff in charge finally gave up: "Well, do as you wish then, I see there is a reason why you are called silly doggie”. Since then, she was given a new name, ‘FuNiu’ (meaning Blessed Girl), and walked around freely in the base, playing upstairs and downstairs, everywhere with great joy.

Each time GAPI volunteers visited her at the base, FuNiu always looked like she had no idea of the pain and suffering at all in the world and happily sang her ‘Song of Erha (Husky in Chinese)’ to the volunteers with her chin high. The volunteers who had witnessed the miserable past she’s been through, were now amused to see a carefree spirit in her.

As the saying goes, ‘A silly dog has its own blessings’ (well, it sounds a bit weird), FuNiu was truly blessed. One of the loving rescuers, who came from Toronto, was willing to adopt our little friend ‘FuNiu’. In the big yard of a Toronto house, FuNiu would doubtless be able to indulge her free-spirited playful nature of the Husky breed to the full.

Sounds like a happy ending, doesn’t it? It is a pity though that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the numbers of international flights have dropped dramatically, so that the GAPI animal rescue team is having difficulty finding a flying volunteer to take FuNiu to Canada.

FuNiu is currently in good health, but she has been staying in the animal protection base, stuck here for a couple of months now because of the delayed dispatch. Each time a volunteer visited the base, Fu Niu appeared as a silly and lively little girl, her usual self. The volunteer often sighed softly to her: ‘Hey! When will you be reunited with your mother…’.

A Call to Love:

• If you are located in Shanghai, China, and have the capacity and ability to adopt a Husky dog, we would consider you first as we prefer a local adopter in Shanghai to care for FuNiu.

• If you or your friends happen to be flying to Toronto (or nearby cities), we need your help to take FuNiu on a plane with you. There is no risk or responsibilities for you to bear. Volunteers from the GAPI Animal Protection Alliance are responsible for making sure all the COVID-19 procedures required for the flight will be completed for the dog. Local volunteers will take care of flight check-in for FuNiu and for picking her up after the flight lands. All FuNiu needs is to have someone to take her on a plane. Would you be the one who is helping FuNiu to go home and reunite with her adopting family in Canada?

Being a flying volunteer is in fact quite simple. We would complete all the documents and procedures required for the flight and send the dog to the baggage check-in at the airport. Your luggage and the dog are directly delivered to the baggage check-in. We will pay for the dog’s ticket, and will pick her up after arrival at baggage claim at the same time you collect your luggage. If you have extra luggage, we will cover the extra baggage fee for you along with the dog’s handling fee in full. You see, what comes around goes around, good people deserve good karma, haha.

Kindly reach out to Rachel if you could, the head of GAPI Animal Protection Alliance in China.

Wechat ID: rachel9163