Community offers shelter for home-alone fluffy residents

House pets whose owners are away at COVID-19 quarantine sites can find a temporary home in Laoximen Subdistrict of downtown Huangpu District. For the moment, the refuge is for subdistrict residents only.

In an empty house left behind by relocated households on Jiangyin Street, a small pet shelter has been furnished and welcomed its first fluffy friend, five-year-old Labrador Timi.

According to the Huangpu District media center, this is the first animal shelter of its kind in Shanghai since the resurgence of the pandemic.

Timi lives on Menghua Street with his owner, who recently tested positive for COVID-19 and was shifted to a makeshift hospital.

Before finding the shelter, Timi was being fostered at the local residents' committee.

The pet shelter was established by the subdistrict government, with the help of a pet clinic called Babara Vet and animal care volunteers of a pet shop called Sansan. Both the clinic and shop are located in the subdistrict.

"Some residents are reluctant to be transported to quarantine sites out of anxiety about the fate of their pets, and my heart aches for the animals who are left unattended," said Zhai Jiang, owner of Babara Vet. When the subdistrict government contacted him and suggested setting up a pet shelter, Zhai agreed immediately.

The animals are fed twice a day, and their caretakers also play with the pets and soothe them when they look despondent.

Zhai said the animals are effectively disinfected when they arrive at the shelter, and the whole space of the shelter is disinfected every day.

Volunteers have been put on duty in a tent outside the shelter to help take care of the pets.

Services provided at the shelter are totally free.

The shelter comprises of two rooms and can hold 40 dogs and 10 cats, but it accepts only pets from families with quarantined caretakers in Laoximen Subdistrict. Those who are interested can call their community committee for more information.