Volunteers in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, bought 22 dogs with 1,450 yuan ($223) in a pet market in Xianyang, another city of the province, in order to prevent the animals from being killed for food.

The volunteers from a dog rescue center in Xi'an learned that dogs were sold to local restaurants from the market recently and decided to save the rest of the dogs there.

In the early morning on May 8, four volunteers went to Xianyang and bought all the dogs for sale in the market.

"We will keep all of them in our center and let those who love animals adopt and keep them. Those dogs which are not adopted by others will be kept by us," one of the volunteers, surnamed Xue, said.

(Xi'an Evening News)