CORONA VIRUS AND GOLDEN BOND RESCUE

By now, everyone is aware of the coronavirus that began in Wuhan, China and has spread across the World. Many of you are wondering what this means for GBR and the dogs still in China waiting to fly to America. Prior to the virus spreading, GBR had flights scheduled from February 1 through July 1. We were able to get five dogs on the February 1 flight but had to cancel the following three February flights. We canceled them not only for the safety of our flight volunteers but also, we couldn’t guarantee what would happen to the dogs once they arrive in the USA. The WHO and CDC have reported over and over again that the virus has been spread person-to-person and have never mentioned dog to humans. There is a suspicion that the coronavirus, like SARS, first spread to humans from bats. Then, why be concerned about the dogs coming into the USA?  Our concern was that if one person on the flight volunteer’s flight showed symptoms of the virus, the entire plane of passengers could be quarantined. What would Customs do with the dogs? GBR decided to go with the “devil we know” (the shelter in China) instead of the “devil we don’t know” (possible seizure of the dogs). To get us back on-track, we have rescheduled the flights for mid-April with the hope that the virus will have run its course. In the meantime, we will continue to keep in close contact with our rescue partners in China: Together for Animals in China and No Dogs Left Behind. We have money budgeted for such an emergency but if the dogs stay in China much beyond April, we will need to begin using the dogs’ budgeted flight money to pay for their food and board in China. Keep us and our China dogs in your thoughts. As always, thank you for your ongoing support.

April 19, 2020 Update: We had flights scheduled for May and, of course, those too have been canceled. The airlines continue to cancel flights, plus three weeks ago, China suspended all tourist visas for travelers coming from "infected" countries. We have scheduled a few flights in late June and July in the hopes the visas will be reinstated and the virus subsided.