Fly Home Forty & Freedom Flight Fifty
Chinese dog meat trade
In China alone, over 10 million dogs are slaughtered each year for the dog meat trade. Dogs of all breeds, many of them family pets still wearing their collars, are snatched from the streets and forced into tiny cages, then sold for meat. Since Underdog International launched, we have been committed to doing our small part to end this cruel trade.
In 2019, we became a UK adoption partner for SHS, but it wasn’t long before COVID-19 came into play and transporting the dogs to the UK became much more difficult. We have navigated hurdle after hurdle throughout our time rehoming meat trade dogs, but we’re grateful that we have managed to find homes for over 100 dogs that may have otherwise suffered a cruel fate.
We ran two rehoming campaigns that found homes for 90 dogs between them (Fly Home Forty and Freedom Flight Fifty), as well as other successful transport runs full of adopted and fostered dogs either side. The logistics are tricky, time consuming and often stressful, but it’s worth it to see the pups settling into a home they couldn’t have imagined they’d ever be a part of.
Here’s a gallery of the lucky pups that were a part of the Fly Home Forty, and a couple of notable rags to riches stories of dogs we are super proud of.
Henry Wee Wheels
Meet the little trooper that is Henry Wee Wheels! Henry was discovered in a government shelter in Shanghai in China in an appalling condition. His spine and legs were broken, he had open wounds on his body and he was unable to go to the toilet. He’d been left like that for two weeks before a volunteer noticed him, and that’s when his journey really began. Fast forward a few years, Henry is now a registered therapy dog, and loves his time spent in schools working with young children! Read more.
Mushu and Lemon’s story
Mushu was part of the FFF in 2020, and Lemon was one of the FHF in 2021. Mushu was rescued from a poverty stricken government shelter where she was basically rotting in a corner, covered in sores and scabies. Lemon was pulled from the back of a meat truck that was intercepted en route to a slaughterhouse.
Mushu was confident from the very beginning, enjoying showing off and going to work with her adopter, who’s a dog walker. She made loads of friends quickly and even started working part time as a stooge dog for a local dog trainer!
Lemon’s adjustment took longer. She was more shut down and nervous than Mushu, and found things more overwhelming. She barked at the TV, she couldn’t do stairs, she needed toilet training, she would bark and chase any visitors, and she was very travel sick. But now, Lemon is a different dog. She’s happy, healthy, loving life and having a great time in the UK with her forever family.
After such traumatic beginnings, Mushu and Lemon are so lucky to be here, thanks to the hard work of rescuers on the ground in China, and their family who have gone above and beyond to give them the best possible life.