Last month, HSI-supported China Animal Protection Power worked with other local groups to rescue 72 dogs from a dog meat restaurant, a roadside slaughter operation and two other slaughterhouses in Henan Province in Central China–a supply center for the country’s three major dog meat markets.

“The animals were in extremely poor shape when we arrived,” said CAPP activist Biao Han of the group taken from the restaurant. Eight or nine were close to death. Two dogs too weak to lift their heads still wagged their tails when petted. “These dogs could have been snatched from people’s backyards or grabbed off the streets,” said Biao.

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One sweet young Tibetan mastiff broke everyone’s heart. He was huge, but terribly emaciated. He had likely been starving for days or weeks, but he still looked happy to see his rescuers, as if he knew he was finally safe. All the dogs were skinny, smelly and dirty, and the room where they were kept was filthy.

With funding from HSI, CAPP activists purchased medicine and delivered it to the shelter to treat those suffering from distemper, pneumonia, injury and malnutrition. Forty-three dogs remain at the facility; the rest have already found homes.

CAPP activists are finalizing a petition to be sent to the authorities calling to stop public dog slaughter, crack down on theft and illegal transport of dogs, and shut down the province’s dog meat industry.

Since July, they have staged three protests at an open market where dogs are slaughtered in broad daylight. They displayed banners reading “Shut Down Public Dog Slaughter, Protect the Youth” to express their outrage that such bloody scenes are imposed on shoppers and pedestrians, including young children. Help stop the cruelty.