From December 12-17 of this year, more than 1,000 dogs and cats currently living in Los Angeles animal shelters received a special holiday meal thanks to Marc Ching, his team at the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, and dozens of volunteers. The meals, plus new bedding and blankets for the cold, are part of the foundation’s 3rd Annual Hope for the Holidays shelter feeding initiative.
The meals were all made from Ching’s line of PetStaurant pet foods. They featured combinations of organic rice, beef and peas, turkey and lentils, and turkey and peas.
Ching told PEOPLE Pets:
“This is our third year doing the shelter feeding. Our foundation is based mostly on fighting against animal cruelty and abuse, but we try and always give back to the community.”
Ching encourages others to donate food or blankets to animal shelters this time of year.
“People can always bring blankets to the shelters, we need those because it’s colder. And we always need fostering, but mostly we want to raise awareness that there are many great animals here. Most people think shelters don’t have pure breeds but there are great dogs here, like Pomeranians and Pugs. So many great animals.”
The Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation is especially committed to ending the dog meat trade. They rescue a lot of dogs from slaughterhouses overseas and have also sponsored the Dog and Cat Meat Trade Prohibition Act, aka H.R. 1406, which would prohibit shipping, transporting, moving, delivering, receiving, possessing, purchasing, selling, or donating dog or cat parts for human consumption. According to Ching:
“Our foundation has paid to draft H.R. 1406 and it’s an anti-dog and cat meat prohibition act. Meaning that in the United States, you can’t eat dogs and cats anymore, because in 44 states you still can.”
To learn more about the foundation, check out their Facebook page or website.
