Chinese animal rights activists rescue animals left without owners due to coronavirus
While the panic over the coronavirus is on the decline in Chinese cities, quarantine is still in effect in Wuhan. The city is closed, entry and exit from it are prohibited, thousands of people still remain in hospitals and quarantine facilities. Meanwhile, thousands of pets remained locked in homes after their owners were sent to the hospital, quarantined or left out of town. Groups of animal welfare volunteers help poor pets survive.
According to estimates of animal rights activists in Wuhan, from 20 to 50 thousand pets remained locked in their homes, whose owners did not have time to return to the city before the start of quarantine measures, were sent to the hospital with coronavirus or were quarantined on suspicion of being carriers of the disease.
Today, there are about ten groups of volunteers in the city who help animals left alone to survive. According to a representative of one of the volunteer groups, a veterinarian who wished to remain anonymous, his group alone saved more than 2,000 pets during the quarantine in the city.
They were mostly animals whose owners had left the city on business and could not return due to quarantine. There were quite a few of them in the 11 million-strong Wuhan. To help animals, volunteers go to illegal actions: they pick locks and sneak into houses through windows.
It is believed that the coronavirus is not transmitted from humans to animals. Nevertheless, today in China, many dog owners buy them medical masks to go outside. Veterinarians assure: there is no sense in this!
The first volunteer group helping animals in Wuhan, became the Wuhan Indigenous Cats group. She began to help the owners of cats and dogs who remained outside Wuhan after the quarantine was imposed on January 23 and who are trying to help their animals who were left alone.
Keywords: Volunteers | Pets | Quarantine | China | Coronavirus | Cats | Dogs | Rescue