In November 2019 I traveled to Harbin, China for 4 weeks to volunteer at Harbin Slaughterhouse Survivors. On my first day at the Safehouse, I met a tiny dog lost in the shuffle amongst the bigger dogs. I picked her up and fell in love. During those weeks, I snuck her into my hotel room, took her to Starbucks, and we explored the city of Harbin together. The last time I saw Pearl was on my birthday when I had to drop her off at the veterinary hospital for an upper respiratory infection. I told her before dropping her off that we would see each other again one day.

I was originally supposed to get Pearl on February 11th, but due to COVID, the date kept being pushed back. Normally, dogs from Harbin SHS fly as "luggage" with a flight volunteer, making the price per dog pretty cheap to fly over. However, due to COVID and flight restrictions, the dogs from Harbin SHS now have to fly cargo, making it extremely expensive per dog. With no clear date on when flight volunteers will be able to start flying over dogs, and with the girls at SHS still rescuing animals, the Safehouse is currently over max capacity. This is the only real opportunity to bring Pearl over to America. Pearl is one of 21 dogs set to fly from China to JFK on October 25. I would be eternally grateful for any money donated to lessen the cost of travel for Pearl to get here!