Elly’s Journey
- Christy Griffin
- 17 hours ago
- 5 min read
From a Yulin Dog Slaughterhouse to a California Life Filled With Love
In 2015, three years after launching Duo Duo Project, Andrea Gung believed she understood the brutality of the dog and cat meat trade. She had already made numerous trips to Yulin, attended the horrific Dog Meat “Festival,” stood in the streets with protest signs, and spoken with locals who bravely shared what they knew. But nothing prepared her for what she would see inside a dog slaughterhouse. As of today, she has been to Yulin 17 times.
Inside a Hidden Room Where Hope Felt Impossible
Dog and cat slaughterhouses in Yulin aren’t giant industrial facilities. They’re disguised, blended quietly into residential neighborhoods, tucked behind roll-up doors on the first floors of ordinary apartment buildings. To enter safely, I relied on trusted local friends who spoke the regional dialect. It resembled a rundown animal shelter with one glaring difference. When you enter an animal shelter in the U.S., it is loud with barking. This place was eerily silent when we walked in.
Over 100 dogs were sectioned off behind fencing. They were too scared to make any noise after seeing the mass slaughter of their friends earlier in the day. All of the killings happened at dawn. As we know, dogs are smart and observant. They learned very quickly that whenever a human showed up, it often meant they were coming to choose which dogs would die next.
I had to pretend to be there to buy dog meat “for a special occasion.” I forced myself to look expressionless as I approached the fenced area. And then I saw them.
Three Dogs, Huddled Together in Terror
In the corner, three small dogs clung to each other, trembling with such intensity that it was clear they were hanging on to the only comfort they had left.
I couldn’t let myself scan the room. I couldn’t bear to register every face I couldn’t save. I simply pointed at the three I could save. They would live.
The butcher accepted the money, and I refused the change. I didn’t want to touch anything that was touched by a bloody hand that has killed so many dogs. I told him to keep it. He smiled humbly. I realized then the workers were simply trying to provide for their families. That clarity sharpened Duo Duo Project’s mission: changing hearts and minds through education and advocacy to end dog and cat meat consumption.
Grief, Resolve, and the Moment Everything Shifted
After delivering the dogs to a compassionate woman who ran a local dog boarding business, I returned to my hotel, removed my shoes, and threw them away. I collapsed on the floor, sobbing. The weight of the dogs we left behind crushed me.
That night, I promised them: I will fight for you until my last breath.
I might have stayed in that grief for days had the phone not rung. The online petition I had launched just days earlier, my plea for the world to confront the horrors of Yulin, had gone viral. Over 300,000 people had already signed. Thousands more were signing every hour.
That groundswell of compassion became our movement’s foundation. Today, that same petition has gathered over 5 million signatures.
And as the world awakened, so did the dogs we had saved.
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The Emergence of Hope
Sadly, one of the dogs died shortly after being rescued. Though heartbreaking, I took comfort knowing he passed away in a loving space, not in terror.
The other two dogs remained hidden for three days. But on my very last morning in Yulin, as I prepared to head to the airport, something extraordinary happened.
The smallest dog stepped out and quietly began eating her breakfast. That was Elly.
Within months, they were thriving and transferred to our newly opened shelter. By December, when I returned to pick them up and take them back to the U.S., I found two joyful, playful dogs who couldn’t have been more different from the frightened animals we had carried out of the slaughterhouse.
Elly had transformed. And then came the moment that changed her life and mine.
A Forever Family
Jim and A
nne, longtime volunteers and donors, met me at the San Francisco airport when I brought Elly home. They arrived intending to foster her. They already had two dogs and three cats and felt their home couldn’t hold another.
But when I placed Elly into Jim’s arms, his expression softened. Something in him shifted.
Elly had found her forever family.
Today, at 12 years old, she is healthy, adored, and still carries small traces of the trauma she survived. But she is safe and happy. She is cherished. She is living a great life all dogs deserve.
And every time I see her, when she needs a babysitter or just a visit, I am reminded why we must persevere.
Elly’s Legacy: A Future Without Victims
Elly’s story is powerful, but it is not unique. Millions of dogs and cats are still at risk. The only lasting solution is to end the supply of animals vulnerable to trafficking and slaughter.
That is why Duo Duo Project is completing China’s first-ever Spay and Neuter Training Center, a groundbreaking, permanent solution to reduce the stray population and close the pipeline that feeds the dog and cat meat trade.
This center will:
Train veterinarians across China in high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter
Train local animal activists how to organize trap-neuter-release programs in their communities.
Dramatically and permanently reduce stray populations
Prevent countless dogs and cats from ever being captured, transported, and killed
Strengthen humane values nationwide
Advance our mission to end the dog and cat meat trade for good
Your support is not just funding a building. You are preventing suffering before it begins.
Join the Forever Friends Circle
As we near completion of Phase 2 of our historic Training Center, we’re launching the Forever Friends Circle, a community of supporters who want their compassion to create a lasting effect for generations.
Members will be honored on a special Donor Wall and receive meaningful tokens of our gratitude. Most importantly, you will play a direct role in ending the dog and cat meat trade forever.
Elly survived but millions of dogs trapped in the meat trade don’t. Now, let’s join forces and refuse to look away. Let’s come together to help more dogs like Elly and keep going until this cruel trade is stopped for good.
Thank you for believing in our mission and helping us create a future without the horrific dog and cat meat trade.
