Street Dog Hero seeks foster homes for 44 dogs rescued from S. Korean meat farm

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Street Dog Hero, a Bend-based dog rescue operation, is preparing to receive about 44 dogs from South Korea, rescued from a dog meat farm. And it could use your help in finding them foster homes.

The group rescues street dogs from all over the world.

Marianne Cox, founder of Street Dog Rescue, said Tuesday the nonprofit needs help fostering some of those dogs.

“When the dogs are rescued ... we take them to the vet, we take blood work, we give them vaccines, because most of them have never been vaccinated or even been looked at," Cox said.

A local animal rescue in South Korea helped shut down a local dog meat farm, but now the dogs have nowhere to go.

Cox is asking Central Oregonians to help foster the dogs while they transition from being in cages to house pets.  

“There are some that are completely shut down. They’ve given up on life, they don’t want to look at people, they don’t want any interaction," she said. "Those are the dogs specifically that we need to find fosters for, because they are going to take longer to roll into life.”

Shelley Laya owns one of the rescued dogs from Street Dog Hero. Her boyfriend adopted Lucky, a Tosa dog who was rescued from a South Korean meat farm.

“I think Lucky was around -- 8 months old is when she finally got let out of her cage, to come over here,” Laya said.

She wants people to know that taking in one of the rescued meat farm dogs may be difficult in the beginning, but patience is key.

“I think of a really important thing to know is that jut because they are really stand-offish in the beginning or scared in the beginning or even traumatized in the beginning of new experiences doesn’t mean they are going to be that way forever,” Laya said.

She says after about a year, Lucky opened up and is now very affectionate.  

Cox said she is hopeful that people will be willing to take in and help foster these dogs, especially since the South Korean government has stepped in to help find the dogs homes as well.

“This is the first time the city government has put aside their own money to help these dogs, which is a huge step in the right direction, because they’ve never helped ... meat farm dogs in the past," Cox said.

To find out how to help Street Dog Hero in this project you can visit their donation page here.