Extreme Animal Lover

In China a woman is driven by her desire to help stray animals, even when it means going into debt and being ostracized by family and friends. Here's more.

China's eastern Tianjin city.
Yang Xiaoyun has not been able to live the typical life of a retiree. Her house in Tianjin has effectively become an animal shelter. For 14 years she has woken up at the crack of dawn to take care of 300 stray cats and dogs, which she describes as her "children."

Yang has spent her entire life savings and borrowed more than $10,000 U.S. dollars from friends and
relatives. Now, she's in desperate need of financial help to buy the 200kg of food needed everyday for her animals.

To cut costs, Yang has developed her own animal food recipe, consisting of leftovers mixed with meat. It takes her nine hours a day to cook it.




With $2000 U.S. dollars in monthly expenses, Yang said she has been forced to sell her properties. Not everyone supports her lifestyle.

[Yang Xiaoyun, Animal Lover]: "None of my friends or family members support my work. I had two properties. One was a wedding gift for my son for when he gets married. I sold his place in 2000. He was very angry at me and ran away from home for three years. He couldn't take it anymore."

Her son eventually forgave her and returned home to help her take care of the animals, but Yang said she's moved nine times because her neighbours complained about the smell and noise.

Yang first started rescuing animals after her husband died. She contemplated suicide but then found a helpless kitten in a ditch and found a reason to keep going.

[Yang Xiaoyun, Animal Lover]: "These (dogs and cats) are all abandoned and abused. A lot are disabled: some have had their eyes scraped out; their mouths sewn shut; others have been scalded by boiling water or their legs have been broken. Now that I've come this far, no matter what happens I will never give up on them."

Yang says she has found strays in streets, in restaurants that serve dog
meat, and around agricultural colleges after the animals were used as experiments.

In 1999 media reported on Yang's efforts to create a safe haven for stray cats and dogs. Since then, she has been surviving partly on strangers' donations and partly on monthly cat supplies from an anonymous benefactor.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• ntd
• china
• animals
• Tianjin city
• lifestyle

[jmorrowbel]

darn ads on the videos nowadays

[kfki]

@rosypaul no may i correct you she is a heroine, hero is for men!

[LADYSEASTAR]

God bless this lady so these animals do not end up as food and their fur on someone's boots or coat... God bless those who help, save, rescue and do all they can for the animals.

[rosypaul]

ONE WORD "HERO" SHE IS A HERO, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY CATS AND DOGS ARE BEING KILLED FOR THEIR MEAT IN ASIA, SOME ASIAN COUNTRIES HAVE BANNED THSE KIND OF KILLINGS AND STOPPING THE DOG/CAT NAPPERS, RESTAURANT OWNERS AND IMPRISONING THEM, LIKE THAILAND, PHILIPINES... SOUTH KOREA IS ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD IS NOT EVEN TRYING TO BAN IT... IT MUST BE STOPPED... AND THIS WOMAN IS A HERO...

[evespoisonous]

when im rich, im going to track this women down and give her lots of money to help her for shes got an angels heart ♥

[01law]

God bless her!

[infoexpertise]

We can't blame her why she chose to live with the lifestyle that most of us don't prefer. I was delighted in her reasons of saving her life instead of committing suicide.These animals helped her cope with it.

[cavalieropal]

Since there is people in China who cares, things will get better gradually.

It is always sad to see stories like this but I can also see hope from those amazing people.

[cavalieropal]

Not all Chinese eat cats/dogs, please be aware just in certain areas, people had a terrible reputation for doing that. And it is not a national culture, it is just the "culture" of certain area. There are lots of Chinese who cares, maybe minority compare with the big population. But more and more people start to care, especially the younger generation. We need law to protect them.

[cavalieropal]

wonderful woman