Animal lovers struggle to cope with Shanghai's stray cats and dogs(2)

Ruan Xiaojing cuddles one of her favorite dogs sadly blinded in one eye in a savage attack. Photo: Huang Lanlan/GT

According to its website, 139 stray cats and dogs have been registered at LifeYoYo and 59 of these have been successfully adopted. Since last November, the group holds a monthly animal adoption day for the rescue organizations and adopters where 40 or so dogs and cats are showcased in the hope they will find new owners. At the last adoption day on Sunday six dogs and a cat found new homes.

LifeYoYo holds its adoption days at a pet store in Hongkou district. The store opened in May 2013 and the owner, 30-year-old Ruan Xiaojing, explained to the Global Times that all of the cats and dogs there were strays she and friends had rescued.

She first rescued a dog which had been injured in a road accident in Feihong Road in 2011. But she then began finding other animals and decided the best solution would be to open a store. Today the 100-square-meter store is home to nearly 30 dogs and 10 cats who all greet visitors with a range of welcoming barks, yelps, meows and whines.

Guarantees sought

Most of the cats and dogs at Ruan's store can be adopted at LifeYoYo's adoption days. Ruan and Yin insist that potential adopters guarantee that their animals will be spayed or neutered within a week. "We also require new dog owners to register their animals with public security departments within a fortnight," Yin said. City regulations mean dogs in Shanghai have to be registered and vaccinated every year.

Ruan and Yin also have to consider whether the adopters can afford the pets they choose. Ruan said earlier this year a beautiful white Bichon Frise dog was brought back to her shop suffering from a skin complaint. "The owner didn't want to take it to pet shops to be treated properly because that would cost him 300 yuan a month."

When Yin talked about He, the woman with 20 cats and five dogs, she did not praise her. Yin felt, in fact, the elderly woman was not the right person to be caring for so many stray cats and dogs. "She has financial and family problems and looking after all those animals will wear her out," she said. "The conditions are not good for the animals either."

LifeYoYo tried to help her last year when He was busy caring for her husband but none of the photographs it posted of her cats and dogs attracted new owners.

Looking after stray animals can be a thankless task in Shanghai. Once five volunteers were helping run LifeYoYo but nowadays Yin is the only one working for the nonprofit group. "I spend lots of time and energy updating the website and organizing activities like the adoption days but I can't make any money this way," she told the Global Times.

And Ruan's pet store is not a financially viable concern either. She can make some money from looking after pet dogs when their owners go away but she only charges 30 yuan a day for this. The cost of renting the shop and looking after the animals comes to more than 10,000 yuan per month.

But both believe their work with animals is important and worth the trouble. "It's not difficult to imagine how miserable the lives of these strays would be if people didn't help them," said Ruan, cuddling a small white dog. When she rescued this dog it was pregnant and had been savagely beaten and lost an eye in an attack.

Last Thursday, Yin, Ruan and Lu Yunfeng, who works at the store, visited an animal protection center in Jiangsu Province. The center was built and managed by monks from the nearby temple and others. There they helped vaccinate and feed some 230 dogs which had been recently rescued from the Yulin dog meat festival which is held every year in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and where thousands of dogs are captured and killed for eating.

Lives bought

"Dog lovers rescued these animals apparently by paying local dog dealers 30 or 40 yuan per kilogram," Lu told the Global Times. These lucky dogs will stay at the center until someone adopts them.

But these animal lovers would like the government to assist their cause. "As far as I know, apart from announcing a policy about supervising dog owners in Shanghai, the government has done almost nothing to help stray animals, animal rescuers or adopters," Yin said.

In May 2011, the Shanghai Dog Management Regulations were introduced limiting families to one dog each. Afraid that she will be reported, the kindhearted He seldom takes her five dogs out at once in case she is reported to the police.

The regulations also allow for people who abandon dogs to be fined up to 2,000 yuan.. "But few people worry about losing that amount," Yin said.

The Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau did not respond to requests about how the regulations are enforced and at present there are no laws governing stray animals in the city.