Sometimes it is hard to really find them, but there are a whole lot of amazing people in the world like Michael J Baines of The Man Who Rescues Dogs – and Wang Yan who you will meet below.

Wang Yan is one of them – and I am kind of sad I have not heard of him before today.

His story started in 2012 when his dog went missing. He searched far and wide but the dog he loved was never found.

Someone ultimately recommended he try visiting a “slaughterhouse” to see if his dog was there. It is common knowledge that China has a big issue with dog slaughterhouses and often steal loved family pets for these slaughterhouses.

The Yulin meat festival is one of the most controversial activities in the world with so many people trying to disband the event. This is ultimately where these dogs will wind up – but many Chinese eat dog for beliefs of the power dog meat has – so the pain and suffering is not limited to the timing of the meat festival.

So, he went to a slaughterhouse and spent around a week there, but sadly his dog never showed up.

But he was left with some horrific images he could not get out of his mind, and that is the day his life changed – as did the lives of thousands of dogs.

Wang Yan is was a millionaire.

He earned his money as a proprietor of an iron and steel factory and ultimately used that fortune to buy that slaughterhouse and start a rescue in the northeast China city of Helong.

He named the rescue Changchun Animal Rescue Base

He houses the dogs he cares for in an old abandoned steel factory.

At the most he cared for is about 1,000 dogs, but thankfully a lot of them have been adopted by great families. He will typically house about 200 or so dogs at the facility at any given time in latest updates.

Sadly, his plight is not unlike other “heroes” in the animal welfare world where there are more animals than there is money. Even as a millionaire his funds have essentially dried up. It is expensive to care for and house hundreds of dogs and he has spent his last pennies doing just that.

What kind of makes this guy even super cooler (as if he could be any better!) – his philosophy has been to not take money from supporters but to ask that they send food and supplies for the dogs.

His words exactly:

“I do not accept monetary donations,” he explained. “I only hope that kind-hearted people will be able to donate a few supplies to help build a home from these 200 dogs.”

Cool right? But sadly food and supplies alone are not always enough so we hope someday he will be open to financial donations for his amazing work.

So, if you had millions – would you do what this guy has done? I know I would!