Touching Story: The Woman Sold Two Houses and Borrowed a Bank Loan to Save Wild Dogs

 To take care of 400 stray dogs, a grandmother in her 60s sold two houses, and jewelry, and borrowed money from the bank.

Angela Chan Ka-yee (age 60) - founder of a stray dog shelter in Hong Kong (China) still remembers the day she found a dark brown dog curled up in a tree hole in Dagu District, New Territories 5 years ago.

The poor animal was weak and suffered a severe injury to the left side of the head. He was covered in blood, and the stench of rot was still coming from the wound. Angela quickly took it back to her home.

The dog was named Fu Meng Chai by Angela. After 9 months of treatment and 6 surgeries, the dog is gradually recovering but is no longer able to see in his left eye.

Fu Meng Chai is just one of 400 homeless or abandoned dogs, mostly of mixed breed, living at the 1,800-square-foot homeless dog shelter in Angela, New Territories.

After retiring in 2000, Angela and her daughter moved to the New Territories. Here, between 5 pm and 6 pm every day, she found many wild dogs foraging at the rubbish collection points in the area. They were emaciated, injured, and had skin diseases.

To help them and provide them with a safe place, Angela sold her two houses in 2013 and used the money to rent a place for them and buy food and medical care for them.

Angela names each of the dogs at the shelter and talks to and cares for them daily. She arranged for them to live in the vacant lot. Sick dogs are given special care. She also organizes funerals for each dog that dies.

"They treat me like family. I see my home as theirs," Angela said.

When her savings ran out, she even sold her gold jewelry and took a loan from the bank to run her home.

At first, only Angela and her 29-year-old lawyer daughter cared for the rescued dogs. At one point, mother and daughter took care of 180 dogs at the same time. Because Angela is divorced, other family members do not support or help her with this activity.

"I get exhausted sometimes but these dogs are so adorable. "I'm exhausted but the dogs are adorable. Even so, I've never regretted doing it," she said," she said.

Things gradually improved over time. Currently, the shelter has 2 full-time staff and 3-4 volunteers who help feed and walk the dogs. Some animal lovers even donate $26 a month to support the dogs. However, this funding has been stopped due to the financial difficulties they have encountered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Dogs are cute as kids. But like us, they get old and sick over time. Once you bring a dog home, you love it for life,” she confided.