By Li Qian

An animal charity organization lost a lawsuit to a local landlord in Daxing district after the agency built dog houses on the rented land which was supposed to be used exclusively as farmland. She is appealing her case to the First Intermediate Court of Beijing on Monday.

The massive construction of shelters for 100 dogs and affiliated homes for vets and keepers were dismantled in a forced demolition in April.

The organization, called Idogicat and headed by veteran animal welfare advocate Wang Liping, rented 10 mu (0.66 hectare) of land from a farmer named Zhang Haidong in October 2008 to accommodate the roughly 170 dogs and cats. But when the 100-room dog shelter was nearly finished in April, Daxing district housing and construction committee officers told Wang the land was for farming only and does not permit construction.

Two bulldozers flattened the buildings in Panggezhuang township in Daxing district on April 24 as police and chengguan, urban management officers, watched.

After the unexpected demolition, Wang briefly rented a courtyard in Tongzhou district to house all the dogs and cats, most of them strays and some with physical disabilities.

Wang said the landlord in Daxing told her the land could be used for "plantation and cultivation" which was also written on the contract. She told the Global Times that she had informed Zhang and the village committee that they would build shelters for animals.

"I feel I was cheated because they promised me it was no problem to build dog homes on that land, even after district officials came," said Wang.

In July, Wang filed a lawsuit against the village committee and Zhang, accusing them of swindling her and demanding the landlord to give back the previously paid rent of 100,000 yuan ($14,650) and compensate for her losses of more than 1 million yuan ($146,456) spent building the dog canine shelters.

She added that she believes that the current lease should be invalid because Zhang provided false information regarding the land.

The Daxing district courthouse turned down Wang's case earlier this month and held up the original contract between Wang and Zhang. After the ruling, Zhang demanded Wang pay the rest of the rent.