31 dogs escape slaughter after man buys them for $1,000

The 46-year-old man in Nha Trang Town, Khanh Hoa Province executed the slaughterhouse rescue Wednesday and took all the dogs home.

He also took photos of each dog and posted them on social media to find their owners.

"Two families recognized their dogs and came to pick them up," he said.

Khoi said that three days ago, his three dogs went missing and his family launched a search throughout Nha Trang and neighboring areas.

On July 27, he entered a slaughterhouse in the province’s Dien Khanh District and discovered dozens of dogs in cages, awaiting slaughter.

Feeling sorry for them, he decided to buy all the dogs back from the slaughterhouse owner.

Dogs in cages of a slaughterhouse in Khanh Hoa Province's Dien Khanh District, July 27, 2022. Photo courtesy of Khoi

The slaughterhouse owner initially agreed to sell the 31 dogs for VND20 million. But when he had to rent a truck to transport them, he demanded an additional VND4 million.

"I agreed to avoid wasting time," Khoi said.

Khoi revealed that he has another 20 dogs, most of them feral, that he has adopted over the years. His house is too small to accommodate another 31, he said.

He has received numerous requests for adoption since announcing the search for owners of the newly rescued dogs. He said he wanted to keep the dogs for another week so that the rightful owners can get them.

"If I can't find the previous owners, I'll take the dogs to an animal shelter," he said.

A shelter is the most suitable place for dogs to find true owners, Khoi felt. He was also concerned that people seeking to adopt the dogs might sell them back to abattoirs.

Ha Thuy Tram's relatives pick up her family's rescued dog. Photo courtesy of Khoi

Ha Thuy Tram, 28, of Cam Lam District, is from one of two families able to retrieve their lost dogs from Khoi.

She said that the entire family had gone to a party two days earlier. When they returned home in the evening, they found their dog gone. They spread themselves out, looking for their pet in dog meat shops and slaughterhouses in the area, but failed.

"My cousin cried for two days and stopped eating because he missed the pet he’d grown up with," Tram said.

She discovered the dog had been rescued by Khoi via social media. On the morning of July 28, she rode a motorbike to Nha Trang to pick it up.

"Knowing that Khoi has spent a significant amount of money to save the dog, I offered to give him some money, but he refused. My family and I could only express our gratitude," she said.

Khoi said he has found one of his dogs and two are still missing, but seeing other pets that were stolen being reunited with their owners was very heartwarming.