What is the Dog Meat Trade?

Minnesota Greyhound Rescue is very proud to be able to help Sighthounds rescued from the dog meat slaughterhouses in China. We partner with a UK / Beijing-based charity called Candy Cane Rescue that does the ground-level work rescuing these dogs and prepares them to go to adoption groups in the USA and Europe.  

Racing Greyhounds are exported from the UK and Australia by racing owners to race or breed in China.  An imported Greyhound will sell for a lot of money as a breeding dog in China, and some unscrupulous UK and Australian owners (and, less commonly, US owners) will sell their dogs overseas for additional profit after a dog is done racing. They are used as breeding machines to churn out expendable dogs for the Asian racing industry. While a number of tattooed (imported) dogs have been found in China, so far only their offspring have turned up in the dog meat trade.

Many have already spent their entire life racing and should be allowed to retire in their old age. Instead, they are sent to a country which has NO ANIMAL WELFARE LAWS to race or breed. Dogs in China are kept in the most awful conditions imaginable. Once a dog in China has finished racing, there is no possibility for it to retire as a pet. In most cities, there are laws prohibiting dogs over 15 lbs, so a pet Greyhound is illegal. Most ex-racing Greyhounds in China end up in dog meat slaughterhouses. When they have outlived their usefulness, many end up in the meat trade to be beaten, hung, boiled, or skinned alive. There are even racetracks built adjacent to slaughterhouses, where all the “retired” racers automatically go for slaughter. There is evidence that Greyhounds are also sent to Shanghai Wildlife Park where, locals report, they are fed alive to big cats and other predators and forced to race against cheetahs for entertainment.

MNGR gets primarily Greyhounds, but also Whippets and Lurchers from Candy Cane Rescue. Many of them have recovered from injuries (any kind of broken bones or other soft-tissue injuries) or illnesses (distemper and parvo are rampant), but at the time of adoption are healthy dogs ready to begin a new life!

Rescuing dogs from overseas is quite a process! Once Candy Cane Rescue has prepared a dog for adoption, and it has finished its quarantine period, it can be assigned to a group like MNGR. It is possible to bring 5 dogs at a time on a fight to the USA from Beijing. MNGR must send a flight volunteer to accompany the dogs (they cannot fly unaccompanied). Because the airline does not have flights to the USA every day of the week, the volunteer generally must stay approximately 2 nights in China. Direct flights from Asia to USA only arrive to certain USA airports, therefore we must depart and arrive from Chicago O’Hare.

The approximate costs for a group of 5 dogs are as follows:

• Roundtrip Airfare for Flight Volunteer to Beijing – $800-$1300
• One-Way Airfare to Chicago – $150-$300
• Hotel – $250
• Travel Visa – $150 plus delivery and processing
• Travel Kennels + Processing of Dogs – $1600
• Dog’s Freight Costs – $1600-$1900
• Gas to Chicago and Back to Pick Up Dogs/Volunteer – $150
  • Total – $4700-$5600 for 5 Dogs

We challenge you to visit the Candy Cane Rescue Facebook page and watch the videos of Greyhounds and Whippets on the dogs meat trucks, tied up in sacks, being slung by their necks into boxes, shivering in fear on bloody slaughterhouse floors while the screams of other dogs ring in the background. These Greyhounds are no different from the ones sitting on our couches at home. But they literally have no other chance.

We know that each dog rescued is a drop in the ocean. We know that they are just a few of the million starfish on the beach. But we cannot look away and wait for someone else to make a difference. If we can save a few dogs from this hell on earth, we must do what we can.