Wei Jie claudiamente@hotmail.com BEFORE taking a Chinese street dog and an Akita mix out for a walk around the Karuna Rescue shelter in Nanshan District on an early Saturday afternoon, Sachin Patel, Indian co-founder of the Shenzhen-based nonprofit animal rescue group, displayed a photo of an Afghan hound. “We found this Afghan hound abandoned in Shenzhen in 2019. He is now in Scotland,” Patel said of the dog in the picture, noting that the breed is gentle, contrary to misconceptions of aggression. Between 2018 and 2019, Karuna Rescue facilitated the adoption of three rescued Afghan hounds by their new owners in Europe, underscoring the nonprofit group’s commitment to rescuing and rehoming animals. Rescue animals When Patel and his partner Jenny Coulson from Australia started out, they were passionate about rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming dogs and cats from illegal slaughterhouses across China. Also dedicated to rescuing abused and abandoned street animals, they founded Karuna Rescue in Shenzhen in 2017. “This is Mowgli, and he is in Alaska now,” said Patel as he pointed to a thriving Alaskan Malamute in a video on his phone. Beginning as a malnourished pup abandoned on the streets of Shenzhen, Mowgli went through a remarkable transformation under the care of Karuna Rescue. He was around 6 months old and super small for an Alaskan Malamute of this age, recalled Patel. After being treated for wounds on his leg, vaccinated, and nursed back to health, Mowgli stayed at the shelter for about a year until an adoptive home was found for him in Alaska. Running on volunteer support Karuna Rescue has a shelter in the foothills of Xili where rescued dogs and cats are cared for by a full-time employee. Patel and Coulson go to the shelter every Saturday and stay there during public holidays. They help wash and groom the animals with other volunteers. The shelter sustains itself through donations and is supported by a network of over 200 volunteers, mostly recruited by Chinese dog lovers through the group’s WeChat Moments and chat groups. All rescued animals are taken to a vet clinic for medical exams and any necessary treatment. They are also fully vaccinated and spayed or neutered before being taken to the shelter, at which point they are healthy and ready for adoption, according to the rescue group. Rehome dogs worldwide Currently, approximately 50 dogs are at the shelter. Patel just sent a Golden Retriever to the U.S. on July 15 and had previously shipped a Samoyed, a Husky, two Alaskan Malamutes, six Shiba Inus, and many mixed-breed street dogs overseas to their forever homes. Karuna Rescue uses adoption criteria based on lifestyle compatibility to match dogs to applicants. “If you don’t turn on air-conditioners that often, you shouldn’t adopt a double-coated dog, as it gets really hot here in the summer. If someone is very busy with work and living in a 100-square-meter apartment, obviously an Alaskan Malamute is not a good fit,” Patel said. Most families in Shenzhen adopt small dogs from Karuna Rescue since big dogs usually need a lot of space for exercises. Adoption information is posted on Karuna Rescue’s website and social media platforms like Facebook. So far, the group has facilitated the overseas adoption of more than 1,000 dogs. The Karuna Rescue team prepares necessary paperwork, helps with customs clearance, and finds flight volunteers to take the dogs overseas. A flight volunteer is usually allowed to take two dogs per flight. Overseas adopters are required to cover the transportation cost, which is usually US$600-US$650 for a small dog and up to US$850 for a large dog. Gratitude from adopters For Kyubi, the Shiba Inu who has lived in Canada since 2020, the journey from Shenzhen to his new home during the pandemic was challenging. His adoptive owner, with the help of crowd funding, had to seek help getting him from the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to Ottawa. Kyubi’s owner strongly encourages those wary of overseas adoptions to put those worries aside. Zoe in the U.S. said she had no regrets about adopting her furry companion from Shenzhen through Karuna Rescue. “I’d placed a deposit to get on a list to get a dog before discovering more about international rescues. I started to feel so guilty about buying from a breeder after learning about dogs saved from slaughterhouses.” She immediately applied and was approved. “It was the best decision ever.” Shenzhen is home to numerous nonprofit social organizations dedicated to rescuing and sheltering stray dogs. The city’s urban administration authority has commissioned qualified social organizations to undertake the rescue and care of dogs. Shenzhen takes in nearly 10,000 stray dogs, with more than 1,000 finding new homes through adoption each year. | 