As the Yulin Dog Meat Festival approaches, China Rescue Dogs, a non-profit organization that saves dogs from slaughterhouses, meat trade, and abuse in China, is on a mission to save lives.

This becomes more challenging for the organization because dog exports from China to the US are shut down. So they needed to move forward with their rescue work by doing something creative.

This pushed them to set up a satellite office in Vancouver, British Columbia, and move their operations to Seattle and Blaine, Washington.

The organization has rescued 181 dogs so far, with another 51 pups, hopefully, on their way this month.

“We fly the dogs into Vancouver first where they clear Canadian Customs,” says Jill Stewart President and Founder of China Rescue Dogs. “We then load the dogs into cargo vans, cross the border at Blaine, where they clear U.S. Customs. We then drive the rescues to Seattle where they will spend a night at a pet spa before flying out on Alaska Airlines the next day to their forever families across the United States.”

“It was and still is an enormous undertaking,” adds Stewart. “But the sleepless nights and the days and weeks of paperwork is worth it once you see their happy faces and wagging tails. We made a commitment and a promise to save these dogs from going to Yulin and we are doing everything we can to make sure they live the rest of their days with love and without fear.”

China Rescue Dogs has partnered with several rescue organizations across the United States to find all of these dogs permanent homes.

Along with the help of these rescues, China Rescue Dogs also works with animal rescuers in China, Paws N Pals Doggy Daycare in Seattle, Aerostream Logistics Canada, Alaska Air Cargo, and Air China Cargo to make these complicated life-saving missions possible.

They have two more flights: June 3rd and 10th, but the June 10th date may have to be canceled due to insufficient funds. To transport a pallet of 26 dogs in a large, climate-controlled cargo plane currently costs the organization $52,000. Right now, they are $104,000 short for the two remaining pallets.

Learn more about China Rescue Dogs and find out how to support their efforts here.