Stray animals have long been a problem in Shanghai, but there is currently no government body dedicated to saving them in China. Instead, kind-hearted individuals do much of the work.

Despite the pouring rain today, Cui Hengyi was on downtown Anfu Road as he has been everyday for the past decade. The garbage collector says he has helped some 3,000 stray dogs and cats, made sure they were vaccinated and found a home through a number of adoption events held in town every month.

Cui Hengyi was on downtown Anfu Road as he has been everyday for the past decade. The garbage collector says he has helped some 3,000 stray dogs and cats

Cui Hengyi was on downtown Anfu Road as he has been everyday for the past decade. The garbage collector says he has helped some 3,000 stray dogs and cats

"I'm taking care of 8 dogs right now, the highest record has been more than 30 dogs at a time. But not all dogs are lucky enough to be adopted by animal lovers. Like this one, it has been with me for almost a year. Sometimes it's just fate," Cui said.

Cui gets some help from people working in nearby office building. Their donations help him cover the 5,000 yuan a month he spends on the animals.

I cook all meals for the animals. Still, people will donate a lot of snacks for them. There are a lot of kind women working in this building, they will also help setting up the booth on Adoption Day.

However, there are times when Cui feels helpless due to the sheer number of strays on the street.

"There are just too many of them. They cannot all be saved even if I want to. Many people will drop sick dogs at my door during the middle of the night," he said.

"This year I've already saved 5 lives from dying from canine parvovirus. And Little Blackie here has just been cured from a skin disease. "

The increasing population of stray dogs and cats in recent years has led to a rise in abuse by angry residents. So two organizations have set up a program to trap stray animals and have them sterilized before returning them to the streets. That reduces some of the problem.

"For example in my own compound, there were many stray cats, the sounds they make during the rut is really upsetting to the residents. Some people even tried to poison these cats. That's when I started conduct trap, neuter, return for some 80 stray cats in the neighborhood," said Zhang Yingying, stray animal protector.

"And the result has been very effective. The annoying sound is gone, leading to less hatred from the residents and less extreme actions. "

It cost Zhang some 16,000 yuan to neuter the cats in her neighborhood. She would like to see the government and property management companies get involved with the issue, since it is too big and expensive for individuals alone to solve.