A COUPLE sold two apartments in Luohu District and spent almost all their savings on over 100 stray dogs that they had taken in, the Guangzhou Daily reported Tuesday.

The wife, identified as Zhuoma, said that she had been taking in stray dogs since 2004, a year after they relocated from Sichuan Province to Shenzhen. She makes a living by selling folk handicrafts, and her husband, identified as Zhaxi, works as a part-time model and singer.

The couple sold two apartments in Luohu in 2007 to save more dogs. The apartments are now worth more than 10 million yuan (US$1.45 million).

They moved to an old three-story factory in Longgang District half a year ago and transformed the place into a rescue station to accommodate stray dogs.

They clean the station with disinfectant every morning, bath the dogs regularly and vaccinate them. They have also hired a woman to cook food for pregnant dogs as they’ve been shorthanded as the number of rescued dogs in the station continues to climb.

Zhuoma said they neuter the dogs and take care of them until they die naturally. Although the couple has to spend 200,000 to 300,000 yuan on the dogs each year and repay a debt of 800,000 yuan, they reject money donations and will only take dog food and medicine donations.

They’ve had to relocate the rescue station several times after receiving complaints from neighbors about the barking dogs. Zhuoma said that they wanted to find new owners for the rescued dogs, but many people still have prejudices against stray dogs.

“I’ve devoted my time and money to rescuing stray cats and dogs,” said Zhuoma, who is in her 40s. “If the number of rescued animals in our station continues to grow, I might not be able to afford it anymore. But I don’t regret it at all,” she added.

The couple’s story was reposted by People’s Daily on Weibo on Tuesday and it has received over 10,000 likes. “All lives are equal. I don’t want stray dogs to harm people, so I decided to take care of them without asking anything in return,” she said.

An officer in a district urban management bureau said that it would be good for more people to participate in rescuing stray animals, but rescue stations set up by individuals might leave the rescuers with a heavy financial burden if no one adopts the animals.

An animal protection organization’s spokesperson, Zhang Yuanyuan, said the government could join hands with pet associations and offer some discounted dog food and door-to-door health-care services for dog rescue stations, to relieve their financial pressure. (Zhang Yang)