We share common tears! Operation Donkey continues!

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You know dogs bark to express their emotions,

Know that sheep have lifelong friends,

Know that cows shed tears when they face certain death,

But do you know,

Donkeys do all of the above?

(click to enlarge) both ot them are shedding tears

In 2014, Master MiaoWu created ‘WuWei Sanctuary Park’. In the following years, the quantity and species of the animals housed there increased, alongside their quality of life. Situated close to the shores of Yellow Riverin the county of JiaoZuo WuZhi, on this 1200 acre of land, is where tens ofthousands of lives thrive, including thousands of wildlife, a few hundred companion animals, plus a few hundred farm animals.

staffs and volunteers at the sanctuary

On Friday afternoon, which was December 17, the sanctuary welcomed two unique friends. Their names are ‘ShengXiao’ (nickname XiaoXiao) and ‘LvDeShui’(nickname DeShui). They made us cry, filled our hearts with love, and created much joy among the workers at the sanctuary. Hence, we want to share this touching story with everyone.

Last week, the first core volunteers of WuWei Sanctuary went with Master MiaoWu to the county of QinYang, in Henan, to rescue a donkey. While passing through the greystreets of this town, we saw a variety of small and large restaurants selling donkey meat, including a large brand renowned for their donkey meat. Our directions were vague at best, following the advice of various local villagers,but after two hours searching, we finally found a secluded donkey factory hidden in a small village.

roadside donkey meatballs

Through a thick metal door, we saw the outline of a donkey with their large ears and white eyes. “I can see a donkey!”

After locating the owner, we were given access, and when we told him we want to purchase a live donkey, to rescue a donkey from being part of the meat trade. The owner, seeing it as a business opportunity, was cooperative.

We started looking around, in a yard of a few hundred square meters, apart from the pens that house horses and donkeys, there were two pet dogs, alarge donkey scale, a whole kit of donkey meat cleavers, a bucket of ‘red’water. But it was the smell that was the most disturbing. Going closer to thesource, we saw a huge metal caldron where something was boiling and bubbling inside, the pungent smell of meat and the ingredients (which is meant to make the meat palatable, that’s what give the food the taste!)

donkey organs in the cooking

Then, the owner ‘kindly’ offered us a piece of what was cooking “but it’s not ready yet, otherwise you can try some!”, and as he said that he lifted the bucket holding down the wire, and immediately ‘things’ floated to the surface. He used a metal spade to stir what was inside, and immediately the stink intensified, so much it felt like it was surrounding us, but by then we guessed what it was… and was confirmed by the owner that they are donkey organs.

bucket of donkey blood spotted

Our hearts hurt for all the donkeys here. Can you imagine, you watch your friends being dragged out in front of you, and you are powerless to stop the massacre just meters from where you are. First they are knocked out by a hammer blow to thehead, hung upside down on hooks, and then piece by piece cut up… the donkey penand the massacre room is separated by a mere 50 meters, but it’s the difference between life and death!

this is the slaughter area

We went with the smallest donkey in the pen. We feel as the youngest she shouldn’t have to experience all of these horrors. She has a timid temperament,but also stubborn as a mule (pun intended). Trying to lead her outside turned out to be harder that we thought. A ‘short’ 50 meter walk to ‘freedom’ took more than ten minutes. Two volunteers, one pulling another pushing, through coaxing and stern talking to, she finally relented, and followed us obediently out the door. Looking back, we realized that to get to the front door, we had to pass the massacre area, maybe that’s why she was protesting so much.

When we were outside, she paced back and forth, as if agitated. Later she tried to get back to the farm, and dragged us back into the factory.

all the donkeys have bubbly personalities

We are assuming, since she’s the youngest, she is the most looked after in the herd. Because initially when we tried to lead her out, she was reluctant. Now, she wants to go back repetitively, maybe to look for her friends. She was emotional, maybe she thought she doesn’t have long to live, no matter how much we tried to comfort her, telling her that she is now free.

We cannot imagine what she went through, at only aged two, she has experienced unimaginable horrors. Apart from being covered in faeces, her timid temperament was the result of her interactions with her previous owner. We haveno idea how many of her friends she had to say goodbye to when they were lead away and never seen again. For the past two months she lived here, how did she,plus the other donkeys in the pen, survived all these.

they are beautiful, aren't they?

Then something unexpected happened - just as the truck arrived to transport the donkey to the sanctuary, two of our volunteers walked out with tears in their eyes and running nose, said with a choke “there is a donkey crying inside”.

We went inside to have a look, and saw a young five-year old male donkey with tears streaming down his cheeks, literallywet from tears. Master MiaoWu walked up and patted his head and quietly assured him “Don’t worry, there’s no need to cry!”

XiaoXiao is crying

Unlike the other donkeys, when Master MiaoWu was stroking his head, he did not think human hands are food, did not open his mouth wanting to take a bite, he (laternamed XiaoXiao) looked at us in the eye, allowed us to stroke him, we all cried with him. The truth is, when we rescue animals, we are saving ourselves. When we decide to use our savings to purchase this donkey, not only our bond with this donkey, but the conviction what we are doing is right is strengthened.

the donkey looking at our camera is XiaoXiao

That’s right, we spent 6760RMB to buy this five-year old, weighing almost 190KG, male donkey. We did what we could, rescuing this particular donkey from the factory. We hadno regrets, but at the same time, we are sorry that our abilities are limited. Among the herd of dozen donkeys, we can only choose two. We felt a bit helpless leaving behind so many lives.

this is the pregnant donkey we also want to save

The same afternoon, the two donkeys arrived at WuWei where they tasted freedom for the first time. They can set foot on the green pastures, borderless blue skies,unlimited feed, tender care from the workers, their future, for the first time, is bright and sunny. Our plan for them, after they have adjusted to their new lives, is to let them roam around, giving them freedom to walk, play and befriend other animals. The smaller donkey (DeShui) is an excitable creature, innocent like a small child, of course, XiaoXiao has been through more, his eyes hide depths of sorrow and untold stories.

Look into XiaoXiao's eyes

Back at the dorm, when reflecting the events of today, like when XiaoXiao was lead out by Master MiaoWu, there was a commotion back in the stable, when one of the donkeys brayed loudly. One of the volunteers said when XiaoXiao was about to get on the truck, he brayed loudly. Seeing a connection, we revisited the footage that was taken during the rescue process.

This is the video:

👇👇👇

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx8MLytwCcA

We cried again.

Because we found out what we missed was picked up by the footage. The whimpering and disturbing braying was a calling, or a goodbye between two donkeys. Also we noticed, upon video playback, as he was being lead out of the pen, he nudged heads with another donkey, whimpering, with tears in their eyes. Too late we discovered that this very donkey he said goodbye to, was the one back in the stable braying his last goodbye!

XiaoXiao's friend is on the left, XiaoXiao is on the right.

One of our volunteers, Jenny Tang, recorded the whole process, reflected on the scenario afterwards, “My tears never stopped coming, I cried with the donkey”.

We felt so guilty. We don’t know what more we could’ve done.

Because on the day, we had the budget of only 10,000 yuan. After saving the small donkey, we discovered there was a pregnant donkey, but due to lack of funds we couldn’t save her (they sell donkeys by kilograms, a pregnant donkey is very heavy with the baby inside). We don’t know what happened between thetwo donkeys, letalone deciphering what was the braying about as they said their goodbyes.However, we really cannot bear to disappoint these animals and their bonds.

This is a wise white donkey. She likes to look at the sky

Master MiaoWu said:

“Fearless giving refersto when the beings, body and mind feels uneasy, fear, and we help themeliminate these feelings. This type of giving is called fearless giving. In the right circumstances, protecting the life of sentient beings is also a fearless matter.Sometimes, we vowed to take good care of others. Though we have not implementedit yet, having the determination and willingness to act like this is an act offearless giving. Everyone can give fearlessly. When you give, even if it’s justa dollar, a dime, although it may seem as small as a drop of water, but thiswater flows into the sea, and the sea as a whole is seen as endless”.

the donkey farm

In fact, the donkey has always been very individual, highly intelligent animals, but somehow in the course of time that have been slapped with the personality trait of stupidity hence "stupid donkey". The origin of Chinese donkeys are they are domesticated by Asian wild donkeys thousands of years ago. According to research, around 4000 BC,the area of Shache, Xinjiang, In 200BC, during the Han Dynasty, humans had already begun to domesticate donkeys and started to use large numbers of livestock in the Central Plains. Donkeys have a robust physique, strength, strong immunity, but also gentle temperament, hardworking, willing to listen to people. In fact, they are very smart, easily trained through mutual trust, they are also able to find water in the driest places, have a strongsense of community and are often used as care givers, and they solve problems. Their ability to defend themselves is strong and they are low risktakers; their brave personality allows them to stand their ground and not be forced to do things they dislike. Furthermore, they also have excellent memory, one to recognise the other donkeys and they are even able to remember where they had been 25 years ago! However, in today's modern profit driving animal farming, the unfair treatment of donkeys is something no sentient should experience.

there is excrement all over the floor. All donkeys are covered with poop, especially their bellies.

Fortunately, both XiaoXiao and DeShui will live out the rest of their donkey lives in peace, for they will enjoy and taste of the freedom the sanctuary will provide. Although we know that we cannot save all the donkeys atthat donkey factory, as we currently do not have the funds, nor can we afford the facilities, resources inour sanctuary. Moreover, in addition to this tiny donkey factory, there are countless more donkey factories in China, as well as other animal breeding and slaughterhouses. What we can do now, is to save them one by one, we hope we canuse this opportunity to better understand and recognize these beautiful souls,make friends with these animals, starting from ourselves, and refuse to purchase or support any exploitation of animals.

DeShui is 140KG, XiaoXiao is 190KG, plus 300RMB transport fare, we spent 11380RMB in total (donkey is sold at 36RMB per KG)

However, we reallyhope to save the pregnant donkey and XiaoXiao's whimpering friend so that they can meet again at the sanctuary. We have told the owner to try not to kill those two donkeys, and we hope it is not too late for these donkeys! We also hope to eliminate the sorrow and despondency from Xiao Xiao's eyes.

Please help us raise at least 16,000 yuan to rescue the two donkeys and their transport fares. If we raise more than 16,000 yuan, we will use it to build better pens for donkeys. Please click here to donate via PayPal, or visit our WeChat online store here to donate.

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