Henry rescued from China by Co Armagh woman

Henry now zooms around strapped to a specially adapted wheelchair, at his Moira home after his new owner flew him thousands of miles from a rescue shelter.He had horrific injuries after being bitten by a larger dog and was languishing in a Shanghai government shelter when he was spotted.Sharon Warnock explained that Henry had open wounds right through to the bone and couldn’t go to the toilet.“He was rotting from the inside out and had been left to die,” said the retired civil servant.Volunteers took Henry to a shelter in Harbin, a city in northern China, and cared for him despite his horrific injuries.Sharon revealed, after spotting Henry on the Harbin Slaughterhouse Survivors’ website, she didn’t eat, drink or sleep for two days worrying about him and applied to adopt him.“I wasn’t the only one but I was chosen,” said Sharon.“Henry had been bitten on the spine and had open wounds right through to his spinal chord. The government shelters in China are not like over here and most of them are overcrowded with dogs forced to scavenge. Henry was just a tiny wee dog on the ground when the volunteers found him.”“Everyone at the clinic worked so hard to heal his wounds. And they gave Henry lots of love to encourage him to fight the infection that had taken over his body. When he eventually became well enough to leave China Sharon paid £600 for his numerous flights home.In March last year Sharon drove to pick Henry up from his flights from Beijing to Paris and then London.“He is just such a happy wee dog and really good with children. He jumps up on them, even with the wheelchair,” said Sharon, who spends her free time travelling with Henry to special needs and main stream schools to help teach children about disability.“I regard Henry as handi-capable, not handicapped. He loves going round the youth groups and churches,” said Sharon, who is also a volunteer with National Home Checkers Association which does home checks for rescue dogs across Ireland.Sharon went back to China last month to the charity shelter she got Henry from and managed to bring five dogs home to the UK with her - all of which have been rehomed.She is full of praise for the volunteers at Harbin Slaughterhouse Survivors who are helping so many dogs which have suffered.“In China pups like Henry are kept in barbaric conditions, tortured whilst we are still alive to tenderise our meat before being horrifically killed and eaten.“I want to help more pups like Henry. I want to see them rescued from the meat trade and get freedom flights out of China, and find families who will love them,” said Sharon who was horrified on her first trip to China 13 years ago how she spotted cyclists with the carcasses of dogs draped over their bicycles heading to a special festival.She is keen to raise as much funds as possible for the Harbin Slaughterhouse Survivors shelter. “Every penny donated will go straight to HARBIN SHS - which was set up by three girls teaching in China who felt they had to do something to stop this barbaric torture. All money received by them goes straight into helping animals saved from Yulin, dog/cat meat trade and medical testing facilities.”If you would like to help, check out the website https://www.gofundme.com/henrys-howl-for-help-harbin-shs