She Saved Them

Yang Xiaoyun's house

Yang Xiaoyun is a former school teacher who put her pension to good use and converted her Tianjin home into an animal shelter. Known as the “Common Home for Stray Animals”, the safe house lodges nearly 1500 dogs and 200 cats, whom she fondly refers to as her "children". And she really does take care of her pets as her own - by preparing their meals and feeding them with her own hands. She sold her family's two houses to fund her dog's shelter.

Slaughter: Up to tens thousand dogs and cats are killed and eaten at the Yulin festival (pictured) every year

Yulin festival - It is tradition for up to 10,000 dogs - plus scores of cats - to be slaughtered for the pot at the annual event, which marks summer solstice. According to Hong Kong–based charity Animals Asia, the majority of dog meat in China comes from stolen pets and strays.


She determined to save the dogs from getting slaughtered at the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, Yang has saved up to 50,000 Yuan that approximately translate into 8000 dollars! She has set her mind to purchase these helpless beings from their ruthless dealers at Yulin and bring them to her safe house at Tianjin. Last year, Yang rescued 360 dogs from the festival. 


 Cruel meat sellers throttled dogs in front of her to try to make her buy more for a higher price - and they sent messages between them entitled 'kill her'. 

 It hasn't been an easy journey for Yang. Sacrificing and constantly putting her life in danger, Yang has come a long way. Her efforts have not gone waste as she has managed to rescue and adopt dogs from a number of horrific fates, one being this Festival itself.

She says she has no idea how many dogs she has saved over the years, but estimates 'tens of thousands'. 

She has no regrets about giving up her comfortable life for the sake of the animals, even though she now sleeps in basic accommodation near her shelter bases so she's always on hand to work.

'Although my family has suffered I have saved lives and I feel proud of myself,' she says. 

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