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My previous job was to raise poultry. When business was good, I didn’t feel much pressure to rescue stray dogs. But the bird flu in 2012 was like a gust of wind that wiped out my career and wealth. In addition to my father’s surgery, I owed nearly 600,000 yuan in foreign debt.
In the following years, I worked hard to pay off my debts. Although I became a little famous because of Langya, I still spent more than I earned.
Every month, I had to go out to feed stray dogs at least 10 bags of dog food. Even if I brought my own recipe and found a manufacturer to produce it myself to minimize the cost, it was still a considerable expense.
Sending them to the hospital, the treatment fees of hundreds or thousands of yuan were very difficult. I could only pay back the money I owed to the doctor in installments.
However, every time I came across a stray dog, I couldn’t bear to stand by and watch. Only then did I deeply feel how weak it was to rescue stray dogs alone.
I don’t care about my poor life, just plain food and drink. What I care more about is that I am powerless when facing those lives that need help.
Therefore, when a more powerful group beckons me, I can’t refuse.
One day in October 2016, a woman in her forties brought two dogs through the gymnasium. I happened to be there taking care of dogs. The exchange made me discover the same aspirations.
The woman pulled me into a WeChat group, and I learned that she was the group owner of this folk animal rescue group with 500 members. Group members pay a monthly membership fee of 20 yuan, which is used as a rescue fund.
The dogs are rescued and sent to various pet hospitals for treatment. Some are sterilized. After they are well cared for, they are open for paid adoption to find new homes for the dogs.
Whenever there are dogs with serious injuries, the group will initiate a fundraising to solve the treatment problem with the power of everyone.
The rescue group has a small courtyard. This courtyard was rebuilt from a rented farmyard with donations from everyone. It is located halfway up the mountain and is a temporary home for stray dogs.
I met several like-minded friends in the group, including a noodle shop owner named Sun who was in his forties. I called him my senior brother, Xiao Jin, who had a generous personality, and Deng, who was very kind to me…
Every afternoon, we would rush to the courtyard from different directions, greet each other, smoke cigarettes, and talk about work assignments. Then we would go to clean up and handle chores in the courtyard separately. We paid for our own travel expenses and brought our own food, but we never got tired of it.
When I first joined, I was excited to see so many people doing the same thing as me. I finally found an organization! However, soon, I found that the reality was not as good as I imagined.
There are many women in the rescue group, and only a few percent of men can stand up and work without fear of dirt. I became the main force among that few percent, so it is inevitable that I will participate in many things.
There are many group members who are like the group owner, who have public office, are not short of money, and are not rational enough. What I find difficult to understand is that this group seems to have become a concentrated “kingdom” and they are very keen on playing power games in it.
In addition to membership fees, other group members and I often donate money to the group. However, when the dogs that received donations are adopted for a fee after treatment, or unfortunately die, and the unused funds are unknown, I have some doubts.
Once, after we sent a dog to the hospital for surgery, the group leader invited us to have supper and said that the group fee would be reimbursed. I looked at the pet doctor and said that we would not eat. The group leader embarrassedly changed to pay for it himself.
In offline meetings, each person had a cup of tea, which was also a group fee. I couldn’t swallow it and refused.
In addition, when the dog died, they asked someone to dig the grave, put flowers, snacks, and dog food for the burial, and invited Taoist priests to pray for the soul. After the ceremony, there was another feast. These behaviors disgusted me.
With this extravagant money, it is better to save more lives that are really in need! I expressed my opinion in the group and was immediately besieged. The group leader finally made a speech to summarize: young people, you don’t understand.
The group leader was willing to spend nearly 10,000 yuan to treat a severely injured and disabled Teddy, but he was perfunctory to the local dog. This completely opposite attitude gradually disappointed me. I was only responsible for saving the dog and stopped talking. In
January 2017, we rescued a dying Great Pyrenees dog in a parking lot outside the city.
When I saw it, I judged from the dog’s size, appearance, and appearance that the market price of a puppy should be around 10,000 yuan. However, it was soon forgotten by the rich boss when it was still a puppy. This
forgetting lasted for five years. No one took care of it. It survived on the occasional leftovers from nearby office workers. It was skinny under its rotten fur.
As a long-haired dog, it had never taken a bath and had been eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, and feces in the cage for a long time. The floating hair accumulated over the years was tangled and stuck with feces. As its body grew bigger, no one dared to get close to this dirty and smelly mastiff.
After three months of treatment in the hospital, we took it to the small yard of the rescue group.
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spent a week getting this Great Pyrenees dog used to my voice. I fed it every day and gave it a new name, “TuTu”, hoping that it would be as gentle as its name and be treated gently by others. Due
to long-term malnutrition, its bones grew a little deformed, and its joints could not be stretched, so it could only take trembling steps. I know it wants to run, but it can’t. Seeing it like this, I feel mixed emotions.
I used to think that abandoned dogs that wander around outside are the ones we rescue. After getting in touch with TuTu, I realized that this is not the case.
Dogs that have owners but are not treated well are worse than stray dogs. Although stray dogs live in the open, at least they still have freedom. TuTu has been imprisoned for five years and has almost lost the ability to walk and run.
I try to take it out to play after cleaning every day, from more than ten minutes a day to more than twenty minutes… at most more than two hours.
After playing enough outside, I said, “Let’s go back. I’ll take you out to play tomorrow!” It followed me obediently, just like it was raised by me.
Later, whenever I walked outside the yard, it could recognize me from the sound of my footsteps and greet me with a deep voice. As long as I didn’t go, it would stay quietly.
My efforts were recognized by the rabbit because of its companionship regardless of wind or rain. It was a dog who knew how to be grateful. The first time I felt this was due to a small episode.
That time, it suddenly rained on the way back when I took it. An older woman ran towards me in a hurry. The road was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side, and we were about to pass each other.
When we were seven or eight meters apart, I said, “Auntie, can you walk slowly?” I was afraid that her running would scare the rabbit because it had never seen people run so fast. Maybe she didn’t hear it and didn’t change her speed.
The P chain on Tutu’s neck was so tight that it only had a palm’s range of movement. My sister ran towards my right hand, and I immediately moved the dog to my left hand. Considering the distance between my knees, I thought I could control it, but I miscalculated.
I ignored the length of Tutu’s head and neck and its explosive power. It turned its head and easily touched my sister. Although it only used its teeth and mouth to push her and did not bite her, my sister’s hand was still bruised.
Obviously, Tutu was just warning the other party for the purpose of protecting me. To be on the safe side, I took her to get a rabies vaccine and apologized.
Tutu’s loyalty to her master made me feel the warmth she gave me, and I accompanied her more frequently.
On May 29, I felt that the hair behind her ears was tangled and her ears were dirty, so I filled a basin of water to wash her ears. She stood quietly and let me cut off her tangled hair, with a gentle look in her eyes.
I put the scissors aside, and a girl came to take them. I told her to keep her distance and not to make the rabbit nervous.
The girl didn’t listen to me and stood by, playing with the scissors in her hand, one after another, and at the same time, she laughed loudly, saying that the rabbit would not bite her, and her voice was quite sharp.
Because the rabbit and I have established a good sense of trust, no one except me dares to touch it, especially the part above the neck.
But when I saw the girl’s body movements, I had a bad premonition. Before I could think about it, the rabbit had already taken a step in front of my knees and bit the girl. I instinctively pulled its ears to my chest.
It didn’t have time to retract its bite and landed on my arm. I patted its mouth with my other hand and ordered it to “spit!” It immediately let go.
There were already two blood holes on my arm. I rushed under the faucet and kept washing the wound with soap until the subcutaneous fat was exposed. Then I pressed it back and went to the hospital for vaccination and immunoglobulin.
In a hurry, I looked back at Tutu. I could feel the guilt it felt for accidentally hurting me and seeing me bleed, so I gave it a comforting look.
A few days later, my arm wound became seriously infected. The flesh on my arm was wavy like jelly, and the wound had festered. I had to be hospitalized for surgery.
The group was buzzing with rumors that I was bitten by Tutu and it was my own fault. But the girl remained silent, and I didn’t defend myself. There was no point in defending myself.
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