Meet Tiny Tim

Meet our “little brother” – we nicknamed him Tiny Tim.

We are claiming him as ours because we have taken him into our hearts. Thankfully he is now safe in a shelter in Harbin, China.

Mum follows Harbin Slaughterhouse on Instagram – watching all the dogs that stream into their shelter every week. And then one day she saw this video of a little dog, crouched in a corner, with nowhere to run. Defenceless, someone then picked him up. He didn’t know it then, but he was saved.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGRv1SUlFl2/?igshid=k0iafki47lkx

She swiped the Instagram post and saw the extent of the abnormality in his legs.

Tiny Tim was rescued off a dog meat truck and ended up in a local shelter. That’s where one of the Harbin Slaughterhouse staff found him. The local shelter told them that if they do not take him, he will die. Thankfully he is now at their vet being checked over and vaccinated.

We nicknamed him Tiny Tim because he reminded us of the little cripple boy in Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. Tiny Tim is not “ours” but Mum decided that this year, as a Christmas present to ourselves – Mum, me and George we will to sponsor him especially his medical needs.

He may not be in our home – but he is in our hearts.

May’s comment: We had written about Harbin Slaughterhouse during China’s lockdown in February. (Thinking about China)

Every day, the team go out and rescue dogs from local shelters or dogs found on the streets. They help to close down dog meat markets.

They bring them back to their Safehouse, to get their dogs ready to be sent to various animal shelters in the US and Europe. But due to the lockdown they couldn’t move the dogs that were scheduled to leave and there were more to rescue.

Harbin Slaughterhouse Survivors motto is – Rescue, Rehabilitate, Rehome. Repeat.

Aimee, Emily, Hayley head up a small HarbinSHS team dedicating their efforts to rescuing animals from the Dog Meat Trade (along with local abuse, neglect and abandonment cases). With the help of amazing flight volunteers and Partner Rescues, the survivors are able to leave China and find loving forever homes all over the world.

Since 2018 they have started to build their own ‘Safehouse’ – to offer the dogs a hands-on and safe space to undergo physical, mental and social rehabilitation before leaving China on their freedom flights. They are in the process of renovating their facility before the harsh winters of Harbin – so the dogs can have proper shelter. See their donation site – https://donorbox.org/safehouse-construction-phase-one

In the meantime Tiny Tim just stole our hearts. And we offered to help see him through to the state where he is healthy enough to be adopted.

We have no idea how his deformities happened but he had survived so long with one leg. ONE LEG! I mean, George ran around to get food and defended himself. How Tiny Tim managed to survive is heartbreaking. What a terrible life he must have had.

The vets have suggested surgery for Tiny Tim, but they needed to confer with the head surgeon and to weigh up the options. Sometimes surgery is the answer, but when the dog is not in pain, it may not be necessary. Tiny Tim is an old boy and he might not survive being put under or suffer from infection. There are many aspects that need to be considered.

Yes, adopting him had crossed my mind. I wish I can give him a home where he is safe and loved and he can live the rest of his life with us. But given that we live in a flat without a garden it would require carrying him out along with my two each time as he wouldn’t be able to walk on London tarmac roads dragging his legs. I am sure someone out there will take him in and give him the best last years of his life – to know love.

And so while he’s still building up his strength in the care of those lovely ladies, we just want to make sure his medical needs are covered and he has a comfortable life before he makes it to his forever home.

We donated via PayPal to info@harbinshs.com. All donations go towards all their costs, but we asked to specifically support Tiny Tim’s treatments and if they think surgery could improve his life, we wanted to be sure he gets the right treatment. If not, we will help him till someone adopts him.

You can also donate via the Harbin Slaughterhouse website – www.harbinshs.com/donate