Rescuers strive to aid pets left alone at home

When college student Lu Yufan was swiping through the video-sharing app Tik Tok during the Spring Festival holiday, a video caught his attention.

The woman in the video, surnamed Xu, can be seen extending a clothesline pole tied with a sausage out of her window toward a golden retriever in the opposite apartment. The dog, lying on the window sill, seems weak and hungry and eats the sausage right away.

The sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus during the Spring Festival holiday has hit humans and animals alike. Many pet owners have returned home, thousands of miles away, and can’t make it back in time due to temporary traffic controls to curb the virus.

Xu, in Guangzhou, first saw the dog on Chinese New Year’s Eve. Three days later, she found it still there, but much weaker.

Xu tried hard to contact the owner. After leaving a message calling for help at the entrance of the apartment building, she finally received some information from the property management staff.

The owner is in Wuhan, which is on lockdown, preventing him from returning. After learning about his dog’s situation, he asked the landlord to open his door. The pet was then rescued and taken to a nearby pet centre.

Similar scenes are playing out in other cities and counties. Even animals at the zoo are struggling.

The Wuhan Zoo said due to traffic controls, it had been running short of fodder and had to request donations from the public.

Luckily, volunteers have taken action. The small animal protection association of Wuhan said in late January that it coukd help rescue and feed stranded pets for free with authorisation from the owners.

Meanwhile, its Changsha branch has launched an initiative to help left-behind pets.