Recently, the renowned dog rescuer and hero, Marc Ching, has been embroiled in scandal after investigations revealed that hundreds of dogs he rescued in China had died in overcrowded shelters.

In September of last year, Marc Ching, a food industry businessman and owner of an animal-friendly restaurant, flew to Asia to carry out his dog rescue campaign in slaughterhouses. At the time, he was hailed as a pioneer in the animal liberation movement in China and many Asian countries where dog consumption is prevalent.

Not only that, he also attracted many Hollywood celebrities to speak out in support and fundraise to help rescue stray dogs from slaughterhouses in China. Hundreds of volunteers from the UK and the US flew to China to assist Marc Ching in dog rescue centers.

Many dogs were unable to survive after being rescued from the slaughterhouses

However, according to the Daily Mail, Marc Ching has been caught up in a scandal as reports have emerged that hundreds of dogs died in rescue centers. Specifically:

Many dogs died while being kept in overcrowded shelters without treatment or vaccination.

Volunteers stayed behind to save the dogs while Ching returned to the UK. Two-thirds of the rescued dogs died. The director of an animal welfare organization said, “These poor dogs were just moved from one hell to another.”

Only a few dozen dogs out of over 1,000 rescued have been successfully transported to new homes abroad. Currently, two international animal welfare organizations, including Soi Dog, are having to bear the costs to resolve the remaining dogs in the hope that they can be taken out of China soon.

It was previously reported that Ching’s volunteers had brought 300 dogs to an Animal Hope and Wellness rescue center in Nanning, which is not far from Nanning. Over 700 other dogs were taken to Buddhist centers. However, after a few days, many of the sick dogs started dying because they were not treated or vaccinated at one of the Buddhist centers, where the monks believed that animals could heal themselves. Marc Ching was unaware of this situation when it happened to the dogs.

The situation became even more tense when Ching returned to the US and cut off funding for the Nanning rescue center, leaving Jeffrey Beri, the leader of Ching’s volunteer group in China, in charge.

Even more horrifically, Ching admitted to hiring groups of people to break into the Nanning dog rescue center at night and kidnap over 100 dogs – some of whom were already prepared to go to new homes – to take them to another camp in Hubei Province.

However, in response to allegations of irresponsibility towards the dogs and allowing such a situation to happen, Marc Ching has spoken out on his personal page. The case is still under investigation and clarification.