2022 was an especially difficult year for our South Korean rescue partner Jindo Love Rescue; it’s already hard with the sheer number of dogs who need to be saved and the logistics of finding them homes and transporting them, but losing our foster home to a fire this summer was devastating on so many fronts. However, thanks to your support, we’re rebuilding and continuing our lifesaving mission — and the dogs are extra grateful.

In August, our foster home and all the things in it were completely destroyed. Not only did we lose our facility, but we also lost 20 precious dogs whose new lives were supposed to be beginning. Despite the heartbreak, Jindo Love Rescue’s amazing team worked tirelessly around the clock and went above and beyond to move forward.

Thanks to the generosity of people like you, so much progress has been made. Many dogs who were critically injured received emergency veterinary care, and we were able to secure temporary housing at a boarding facility for 36 dogs who there were no fosters available for. We’re extremely grateful we were able to board them, but it’s wildly expensive and unfamiliar kennels aren’t the best environment for our dogs — some of them are depressed and losing weight there.

We hope to get them back home as soon as possible and are continuing to slowly rebuild. 

While there’s still a lot of work to be done and a lot of things we need to buy, including big items like refrigerators, air conditioners, and washers and dryers, in addition to smaller supplies ranging from collars and leashes to blankets, we’ve started ordering things and a lot of progress has been made! 

We’re optimistic we’ll be able to move back in soon. Thanks to your support, the exterior is finally complete!

We’re also making some changes to the original building that will improve safety, including two extra doors to give dogs access to the outside, while the yard will now be divided into two sections so we can better monitor dogs while they’re playing. The circuit board was also expanded to avoid plugging multiple items into one outlet and to accommodate enough wattage for bigger appliances. Smoke detectors will also be installed.

We also installed some crate-like enclosures under a raised platform that can be used during feeding and resting, which will be especially important for dogs who are too shy to eat in groups.

Most importantly, we’ve resumed adoptions and started sending dogs home. Since the fire, 21 dogs have flown to their forever homes and we even had four who were adopted together and are now living their best lives in Colorado with their new family. We’ve also since welcomed one dog in, who’s now going to get a second chance at the life he deserves.

We’re so proud to be working with Jindo Love Rescue, it’s one of the only organizations that has a facility in South Korea and that has made all the difference in the world to hundreds of dogs — and especially large dogs — who were at risk of becoming victims of the dog meat trade and are now in loving forever homes in North America.

We can’t wait to see what the new year brings, and see even more deserving dogs get a second chance. You can help support this lifesaving mission by making a donation, spreading the word about our need for flight volunteers, or adopting one of these precious dogs.