Hola, Salut, Ni hao, Shalom, Kon’ nichiwa, Hello, Annyeonghaseyo, Hej, Bog, Marhaba, Sah-wahd-dee khrup/kah, Marhaba, Hujambo, Zdrahvdz-vuee-tyeh

Some people will be thinking why on earth is Victoria starting this blog with lots of hellos in different languages when she is trying to help feed and protect dogs and cats in China? I want you all to know, there is no ‘me’. I am just the ‘face’ of a group of people who work (unpaid and from the heart) tirelessly to help Madam Yang and her dogs and cats, and who also want changes in the dog/cat meat laws in China.  Many people from all over the world have taken this issue to their heart and that is why I say hello to you all.  I apologise if I have not added your hello to the introduction but we are all singing from the same hymn sheet.  It is with great sadness to report (but not unfamiliar to those of you in the animal rescue world) that liars and cheats have tried and succeeded on many occasions, to take over the work of real animal activists on the ground and claim them as their own achievements.  If they have been thwarted in that event then they resolve to defamation and attacks via social media on the internet.  Alas that brings us to the defamation of Madam Yang,  a 68-year-old woman doing her best against all the odds.

Vet administering medication to one of Mrs Yang’s rescued dogs, June 2016

Vet administering medication to one of Mrs Yang’s rescued dogs, June 2016

She is not perfect.  Her animals need help and she is the first to admit this.  A charity called No To Dog Meat (World Protection For Dogs and Cats in the Meat Trade) decided to take up the challenge and help this rescuer in China.  Everyone clap.  Bloody brilliant. Who would not contribute to such a cause?  £100,000+ was raised and collected, and that should have seen those animals living in better circumstances than a cooking pot.

So why is it that Mrs Yang did not receive 90%+ of the kind donations collected by No To Dog Meat? Why has it instead been left to myself and a small group of dedicated passionate animal lovers to do all we can to help feed and vet Madam Yang’s dogs?

(Let it also be noted that an urgent appeal to the ‘charity’ for medical and vet expenses at one stage was totally ignored.)

To help Madam Yang and the animals she saved from Yulin 2016 and elsewhere, my group organised a paypal account (donate@friendsofyang.com) on the 15th June ’16 as a fundraiser.  In this short time, and thanks to everyone’s support, we have arranged a vet to visit Madam Yang’s animals who administered appropriate medication and did a sweep of all those animals in Madam Yang’s shelter that required further help.  Madam Yang felt confident enough to order more medications for her animals knowing that donations made through my group would be paying the vet directly and she would not be left with the heartbreaking choice to either pay for vets or to pay for animal feed. The vet will be visiting Madam Yang’s dogs on a weekly basis until we are up to a point when less visits will be required as the dogs get healthier. My group is elated that at last Madam Yang has put her trust in us, after being so horribly betrayed before.

We have been publishing all proof of donations/expenses on our Facebook page, however, it was pointed out to me before setting up the paypal account, that a YouCaring fundraiser was instantly transparent and therefore more suited for our purpose. We took that advice onboard and opened a YouCaring fundraiser.

It then came as a huge shock to find that the fundraiser was arbitrarily closed by Ellie from YouCaring because she and her team decided that my team giving 2,000 dogs medication is ‘not a good fit’ for the YouCaring site based on, among other unfounded defamation, the lie that Madam Yang sells dogs back to the meat trade (which we can dispute, and will).

Email from Ellie at YouCaring:

My reply to Ellie at YouCaring:

Apart from this being false information, it simply does not make economic sense to buy the dogs from butchers at an inflated price to then sell back to the restaurant owners at a loss. I will be asking Ellie and her team for proof of her accusations but, in the meantime, there you have it.  Ellie and her ‘YouCaring’ team unfortunately did not do their research and, because of their failings, my group now has to look elsewhere for a new platform to raise money to help 2,000 animals.

In response to the YouCaring. fundraiser being taken down, I have opened a new donation site with GoFundMe https://www.gofundme.com/HelpMrsYangAnimals and all the latest information on how to donate and the latest news about Madam Yang can be found at https://www.facebook.com/friendsOY

Those of you that have perspective, foresight, and intelligence, that can see past the intricate deceit that is all too prevalent in ARA social media, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your trust and belief that we can help in some small way, to the best of our ability. And thank you to everyone who has donated.