Yulin, a city in southern China, celebrates the summer solstice by throwing a festival that involves the slaughter and consumption of as many as 10,000 dogs. Not everyone in China supports such practices, however; 65-year-old Yang Xiaoyun, a retired teacher who runs an animal shelter in Tianjin, traveled more than 2,400 km (1,500 miles) and spent more than 7,000 yuan ($1,100 or €990) to save 100 dogs from certain death.

Storks that were saved by Bulgarian farmer Safet Ismail are pictured in the village of Zaritsa, Bulgaria, March 21, 2018. Dozens of people from villages in north-eastern Bulgaria took storks to their houses as a lot of the birds got injured due to freezing temperatures and snowfalls in the area over the last few days. (Photo by Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

A devotee of the Chinese Ban Tha Rue shrine walks with guns pierced through his cheeks during a procession celebrating the annual vegetarian festival in Phuket, Thailand, October 17, 2015. The festival, featuring face-piercing, spirit mediums and strict vegetarianism celebrates the local Chinese community's belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health and peace of mind. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

A goose walks on the road as Belarusian villagers take part in the Yurya religious rite to bring a good harvest in the village of Lutki, some 270 km south of Minsk, on May 6, 2019. (Photo by Sergei Gapon/AFP Photo)

Some bats in the forested area of Guapiles, Costa Rica, 21 April 2020. (Photo by Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA/EFE)

A woman reacts after getting a nasal swab taken to test for the coronavirus in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Tuesday, June 16, 2020. India is the fourth hardest-hit country by the COVID-19 pandemic in the world after the U.S., Russia and Brazil. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)

A man takes a picture of the mural painted by the street artist Harry Greb depicting the Italian music composer Ennio Morricone, a day after the 91-year-old composer's death, on July 7, 2020 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

People wearing face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus gather in a discotheque in Madrid, Spain, early Saturday, July 25, 2020. Nightlife is becoming the new target of Spanish authorities attempting to contain a spike in coronavirus infections since the country ended a lockdown. The Catalonia regional government has shut nightlife venues in Barcelona, and on Friday officials in Madrid said they were considering a similar step. (Photo by Manu Fernandez/AP Photo)