Celia spent her entire short life trapped in a wire cage on a dog meat farm and was destined to be slaughtered. She was left in her own filth and covered in sores, but everything changed when we saved her with our partner Jindo Love Rescue — and we’re so excited she’s finally in her forever home in the U.S.!

Celia, who is a Tosa Inu, was one of 26 dogs we rescued from the Miryang meat farm last spring. Sores and scars on her body told a story of severe neglect and she was heartworm positive. Without a reason to trust humans, she was terrified when our team tried to take her out of her cage and managed to get loose — probably anticipating a horrifying fate. She had never touched the ground before and eventually froze in fear, finally allowing our team to take her.

She was immediately seen by a vet and taken to our foster center in Gimhae, where our Foster Mom introduced her to an entirely new world of kindness. She was so scared and shut down when she arrived, but with love and patience she started to gain confidence and we started to see life in her sad, soulful eyes.

In November, she boarded a flight to her forever home in the U.S. where she met her adopters, and canine siblings Honey, whom we also rescued from the dog meat trade, and Tyson.

She’s still a bit timid and scared of new things, but so far she’s settling in well and fits in perfectly with her new family who is in love with her. According to her adopters, she’s smart, curious, and sweet and “hops around like Bambi” as she’s learning how to run and play after spending her life in a cage. Due to neglect and malnutrition, she’s having trouble putting on weight, but she’s eating well.

We’re so happy Celia found her perfect family, and grateful to everyone who helped make her new life a reality.

You can help us save more dogs like her by making a donation, spreading the word about our ongoing need for flight volunteers to courier dogs to new homes, and by adopting — you can find many available dogs on Jindo Love Rescue’s Facebook page.

You can also help support our effort to see the dog meat trade ended by signing and sharing our alert urging South Korea to pass legislation that would ban it once and for all.