An animal-loving woman from China closed down her clothing business and rejected a life in the US to open an animal shelter and look after stray dogs and cats. Here’s how she’s managing the noble cause while incurring a debt of a whopping $69,000.
Dong Shuzhen, a 66-year-old from the Jinan city of the Shandong province in Eastern China, runs a mission for sheltering stray dogs and cats in China. It has been 15 years since she is running this shelter in rural China which is now home to over 2400 dogs and 70 cats. She used to feed stray animals even when she owned a clothing store. But now, she dedicatedly manages the animal shelter home along with help from 11 staff members working at her facility.
Running this shelter home with over 2470 animals costs around $250 a day to the lady. Unfortunately, Shuzhen has accumulated a massive debt amounting to 500,000 yuan over these years. She had not been able to manage the high maintenance cost owing to the lack of funding. Her biggest dilemma about this $69,000 debt is feeding the animals and paying the workers. Because of the constant debt, Dong has relocated her animal shelter home for 4 times now.
The animal lover has not only given up her business but has also sacrificed on the opportunity of moving to the US to live with her daughter despite receiving the visa. The daunting question ‘If I left, how would they live’, stops her from relocating to the US even when she longs to reunite with her daughter.
While the pressure of the debt makes her question her decision to continue the shelter home, her kind nature has captivated social media. Soon after the story went viral, it melted people’s hearts globally! Users are requesting support for the kind and selfless lady. Though she is knee-deep in debt, Shuzhen still commits that she will “continue to adopt homeless animals for as long as conditions allow”.
