Pleasing 4 Pets

Earlier this year the province of Sichuan, just east of Tibet in Western China was devastated when an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale shook the ground, sending 70,000 inhabitants to their graves and leaving more than 5million homeless.

In the refugee camps that have arisen, offering makeshift homes to many thousands, the people of Sichuan are slowly attempting to rebuild their fractured lives.

But nearby, in the refugee camps where tens of thousands of people live in temporary housing, people are slowly putting themselves back together.

However, inhabitants of the province weren’t the only ones who’s lives came crashing down around them when the quake hit, many domestic pets found themselves injured and alone.

But one of citizens in the earthquake zone took it upon herself to care of the displaced animals and to this day continues in her efforts to re-house them.

Known locally as Auntie Chen, she manages a dog rescue centre which she affectionately refers to as the ‘Home of Love’, where she care for all manner of canines from Alsatians to Shih Tzu’s.

One of the centres residents is Lulu, a 3 year old Pekinese who was left permanently disabled after her legs were crushed by a falling building, in which her owners and their entire family lost their lives.

Now Lulu and over a hundred other dogs are fed and cared for by Auntie Chen, who funds the centre from her own sparse savings and occasional donations from locals. From sets of rollers, she even fashions make-shift wheelchairs to enable paraplegic pooches to dash around with their more able-bodied companions.

Auntie Chen was recently quoted as saying

“These dogs are heroes. Some of them led rescue teams to people trapped under rubble after the earthquake.

After what happened, we need everyone to love each other more. We need people to visit these dogs whose owners have died, and to help mend their broken hearts.”