Help get my Vietnamese meat dog Miso home!

"Here we go again, Miso!"

Our Story:

I'm reaching out with my heart in my hand, feeling really stuck, and I could use a bit of a lifeline if only as a fellow animal lover. If not in terms of money in the form of kindness by simply sharing our story!

4 years ago just at the start of covid I ran a fundraiser for Miso and we raised around $800 for her, this paid for a rabies vaccine and her blood test in order to be exported from Vietnam. Little did I know what was coming with a world wide lockdown!

Miso, my rescue dog from Vietnam, needs to get to Australia, and the clock is ticking fast. Australia has implemented new rules last year in March stating that - any countries not listed under categories 1,2 or 3 (Vietnam) are now required to move to a group 2 or 3 country for a minimum of 180 days/6 months prior to being able to enter Australia. Though it's advised to allow 10 months as the quarantine in Australia has also been extended to 30 days vs 7 days and it is booked out 6-10 months in advanced. This is making it nearly impossible, and I have just 3 months left.

As maybe you can imagine, it's breaking my heart. She's been my anchor through the toughest years in my life and vice versa. I wouldn't be here writing this if it were not for her. I am all she knows.

In the short span of 12 months, I lost my dad suddenly to a heart attack, and only a matter of months later had to shut down my restaurant. If you know me you know I have still not had time to recover or heal from either because there was not another option other than push forward to support myself away from family and 5 rescue animals to care for.

It's been a struggle I have not been able to recover from 12 months later and it's time for me to come home.

I started teaching after my business shut instead of coming home purely because I refused to leave Miso but with the three cats and a gecko—all rescues—making ends meet both emotionally and financially has been a constant battle. Now, I am facing visa issues and my time is almost up!

I've been as strong as I can for as long as I could but now I need a hand.

I will manage to find homes for my cats, but Miso is different. She's more than just a dog; she's the sole reason I got through the last two years. She has been the only thing giving me purpose and love as I navigated the pain and grief of loss after loss on my own in a foreign country with no support around me.

I owe her my life.

The thought of leaving her in a place where she faces a heartbreaking fate everyday is tearing me apart. She was rescued from a cage on the back of a motorbike at about 6 months old on her way to be slaughtered and now we walk streets of Hanoi anxiously on the look out for aggressive dog snatchers with tasers on the prowl.

I'm desperately looking for someone, anywhere in a group 2/3 country, who could foster Miso for the 180 day waiting period. I can't afford a pet hotel for 6+ months, as it would add another 6000 USD+ to the bill for that alone. I am solely relying on the generosity of strangers to help us both through the tumultuous 12 months that are ahead.

Time is slipping away, and I'm feeling this overwhelming sense of helplessness finding it always coming down to nothing other than finances. Everything else is possible.

Based on 3 different routes with miso spending the 6+ months in either Korea, Singapore or South Africa depending on the foster home - I am looking at ~$15,000 AUD in total. Permitting nothing goes terribly wrong and paperwork and permits don't need to be re-lodged due to vets mistakes etc and she doesn't need emergency vet care.

Initially I am looking at needing ~$5000 AUD to get her to one of the three places mentioned above within in the next 3 months prior to me leaving. Then I have a bit more time to put whatever money I can away to get all her paperwork/permits and testing done to enter Aus.

Call me crazy - I have been fighting for Miso since the day she was rescued and I refuse to give up and leave her with someone I don't know where she very well could be stolen and slaughtered for food. I can't live with that on my conscience.

So, ANYTHING helps even just a little share <3

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