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A tiny Long Island-based animal rescue operation is saving hundreds of dogs from landing on the menu in China and finding loving homes for the pups in the US.
Run 2 The Rescue, co-founded by Sag Harbor resident Bonnie Klapper, has saved roughly 600 canines from the international dog meat trade by coordinating with a crew of on-the-ground heroes preventing the pooches from ending up for sale in open-air flea markets and festivals.
“These were going to be somebody’s meal,” Klapper said, holding teary-eyed toy poodle Junebug, who was rescued alongside more than a dozen others after a Chinese breeding mill was shut down earlier this year. Its unsold inventory was slated for the slaughterhouse.
“Butchers will steal family pets, and people sell dogs to dog butchers … who sell by the pound,” Klapper added, noting her team has saved pooches ranging from Pomeranians to beagles to schnauzers – and have placed nearly 300 dogs in homes to date.
Roughly 30 million dogs are killed for human consumption each year, according to Humane World For Animals – with 10 million dogs killed in China alone.
Still, the number of dog meat trade-specific rescuers in China are slim, said fellow longtime rescuer Brandy Cherven, who co-founded the group in 2024 with Klapper.
The number of rescuers that always accept sick or injured dogs are even fewer, she said, but Run 2 the Rescue “never says no to any dog.”
“We see a lot of hard things,” Klapper said.
“We’ve taken dogs that we know are going to probably pass away soon, and we just bring them to our shelter and we let them humanely know go instead of suffer.”
Cherven notes their rescue crews in China periodically stop dog meat trucks and visit butchers, puppy mills and laboratories to negotiate the release of the animals — oftentimes by threatening to call the police if a site doesn’t have its proper licenses. The rescued animals are then cared for at the nonprofit’s sanctuary before being flown into the US.
A 3-year-old named Schnauzer Twitch, who had suffered a fractured skull from “blunt force trauma” and was rescued from being sold to a slaughterhouse, was one of several pups welcomed into the US at John F. Kennedy International Airport Wednesday.
“I love that we can just give him a second chance … knowing he had suffered before and we could give him the opposite of what he’s gone through,” said Freeport, New York resident Yolanda Lobban, who will be fostering Twitch with her daughter Aryanna.
“You get to be the first part of that journey, where they go next, with love,” Lobban added.
The same flight also ushered in toy poodles “orthopedic nightmare” Junebug and partially-blind Pearl, who were adopted by Greg and Amy Carrico of Syracuse, New York — and joining a gaggle of other special-needs poodles they saved from the same fate.
Other notable rescues include a whopping 77 lab-tested beagles who were intercepted en route to a dog butcher.
Among the most memorable case was that of Kronk — a 39-pound Malamute who was beaten so badly by Chinese butchers he still walks sideways and can’t use his back legs.
The sweet, massive “goofball” has since doubled in weight — and now lives with Cherven in Ohio.
“When people ask what’s the most wonderful part of rescue, this is it … seeing dogs that originally we saw in horrific circumstances, first at our sanctuary, healing, and placed in wonderful homes,” Klapper said.
“We feel as lucky as the dogs do because we have a chance to change lives.”
English (US)