Some lucky dogs have arrived in Ottawa.
The pooches were rescued from an annual dog meat festival in China by Humane Society International. The ten that came to Ottawa are a fraction of the 172 dogs in total that were rescued from the Yulin festival in June.
Rebecca Aldworth is the executive director of Humane Society International/Canada. She explained some of the hoops the organization had to jump through to get the dogs to Canada.
"It's a holiday miracle as far as I'm concerned,” Aldworth says. “110 dogs that we rescued from the dog meat trade in China have arrived in Toronto. This has been just an incredible event for us. We've been working for months to secure the permissions we needed from the Government of China to export these dogs and they made it on the last flight available out of China."
She also explained the condition the dogs were in when the organization first saw them in China.
"What our team found there was absolutely horrific. Dogs were crammed into rusty iron cages so tightly that they couldn't move. They were gasping for air. Their bodies were covered with open wounds and sores. They had skin conditions so bad that some of them had even lost all of their fur. They were clearly emaciated and dehydrated it was clear they had gone without food and water for many days."
The dogs will be put into foster homes through the Bytown Association for Rescued Kanines (BARK), to be socialized. They’re expected to be ready for adoption in a few months.
"These dogs have suffered a level of cruelty that most adults can barely stand to watch on video," says Aldworth. "They're fearful and they need help to regain their trust in people. That's why BARK is putting these dogs into experienced foster homes where they can receive that individual attention. Ultimately these dogs are going to make amazing companion animals. We hope people in the Ottawa area open their hearts and open their homes to these dogs that so deserve a second chance."
"It's now in Canada that they can truly complete that journey to forever homes," she added.
The rest of the dogs will be headed to different foster homes around Ontario and Quebec.
"I've been spending some time with these incredible dogs," Aldworth says. "They are some of the most beautiful, sweet little dogs I have ever come across. It's unthinkable that any person anywhere in the world would subject dogs like this to this kind of cruelty. And I'm so grateful that we've been able to get them home in time for the holidays."