32 dogs from China are due to arrive in Montreal on Friday to be nursed to health, and put up for adoption — after they were rescued from a cruel fate over the summer.
They were destined to wind up in people's plates at a dog meat festival in the southeastern Chinese city of Yulin — until the Humane Society International stepped in.
The group says when they were discovered, they were jammed in cages so small they had trouble breathing. Some wound up severely emaciated and dehydrated, with broken bones and wounds, and were treated in China by veterinarians with Humane Society International.
In all, 110 dogs were rescued and brought to Canada. 32 of them are due to arrive at Trudeau airport on Friday, and will then be brought to Montreal's SPCA to receive follow-up care — both physical and psychological — from the group's veterinary staff.
The dogs will then be put up for adoption — something which the SPCA expects could happen in as little as two weeks.
The Yulin dog meat festival is based on a centuries-old tradition, and is held right around the summer solstice every year. In 2013, as many as 10,000 dogs were slaughtered for their meat during the festival, until it began attracting attention from animal rights activists. Now, that figure is closer to 1,000.
Alanna Devine with the Montreal SPCA, meantime, says taking the dogs from China has nothing to do with its decision to terminate its dog service contracts with several Montreal boroughs in the wake of the city's pit bull ban, saying those are two different issues.