A pair of sad-eyed pooches peer out of a hole in the door to their kennel. Photo: IC

A dog shelter in East China's Shandong Province that cares for 2,000 canines is struggling to find enough funding to do the right thing for man's best friend.

The Tai'an Small Animal Protection Center is overwhelmed by dogs, debt and a lack of cash.   

The center was recently required to move to a new parcel of land outside the city of Ji'nan, but has been unable to raise enough money to complete the construction of proper kennels.

The center's self-proclaimed mandate is to provide food, shelter and medical aid for any stray dog that ends up at the center. The dogs are housed at the center until they are adopted.

Although dog ownership is growing in popularity in China, few families are adopting pets from the shelter. Some say part of the problem is the high registration fee that new dog owners must pay to the police bureau. A pet owner has to pay 400 yuan ($64) to register their dog and an annual fee of 200 yuan.

The shelter receives no public funding.

Inside the compound which is divided into sections, hundreds of dogs run in packs, looking for scraps of food, getting into scraps and rough housing.  

The shelter is operated by an NGO that only managed to raise half the money needed for the move from outside of the city of Tai'an to near Ji'nan. To finish building proper kennels for the dogs the center still needs to raise another 300,000 yuan. Some of the exiting kennels are shared by up to 20 dogs.

The NGO opened an online shop on Taobao through which it accepts donations. The shop usually receives less than 10,000 yuan a month in donation, which is not nearly enough to cover even the cost of feeding the dogs. The dogs consume more than 60,000 yuan a month in dog food.

With so many dogs and so little money, some animal lovers doubt the shelter can sustain its care for the canines. They worry that the volunteers will soon be overwhelmed and won't be able to guarantee the dogs' health and safety. Many want the government to take charge and ensure the humane treatment of stray dogs.

Global Times

Volunteers help a veterinarian neuter a male dog.Photo:IC