Du Fan planned to go to Harbin, the capital city of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, which is known for its snow and ice sculptures, during the Spring Festival holiday.

Born and raised in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, he dreamed about going there to enjoy the beautiful winter scenery, which is rarely seen where he lives some 2,500 kilometers away.

However, he had to change his plans.

On Jan 23, the city of Wuhan was locked down in a bid to control the spread of the new coronavirus epidemic. For Wuhan, a city with more than 10 million people, there is an emerging problem: the pets left at home by their owners, who cannot return to the city.

On Jan 26, Du, the director of Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association, released a notice on the association's social media platform, saying that the association offers help to people whose pets need help during the epidemic control.

"If we didn't help, many animals would die of thirst and hunger," says Du in an interview with Chinese media platform, The Paper, on Feb 4, adding that over 400 families asked for help and the association has been busy helping the animals every day since then.

According to Du, many pet owners planned to return to Wuhan after the Spring Festival holiday and they just prepared a week's supply of food and water for their pets.

"We've received over 2,000 messages asking for help, mostly young people aged between 20 to 30 years old. The viral outbreak disrupted their plans for returning to Wuhan," Du says, adding that they helped different kinds of pets, like cats, dogs, fish and rabbits.

One of the most challenging tasks is having to unlock the doors in order to get into the houses. They get the owners' permission first and the whole unlocking and feeding processes are streamed online or recorded by the association's team members, which are shared with the pet owners.

"One team member can visit 60 families to feed pets, which usually takes about 12 hours a day," says Du. He also says that over 2,000 people have joined in to help and share information about pets in need.

"Some pet owners cried with happiness when they saw their pets in the video and others expressed their gratitude to us after learning that their pets had enough food and water. We feel happy for them too," Du says. "It's not just people that are struggling through hard times. Animals are also in trouble."

On Feb 1, a video about Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association's mission of mercy was posted by a Chengdu Economic Daily online platform and was viewed more than 25 million times. It said that "there are about 300,000 to 500,000 cats and dogs in Wuhan. One out of 10 families has a pet".

Since 2006, 38-year-old Du has been devoted to rescuing animals. In 2013, he founded the Wuhan Small Animal Protection Association, the first legal nonprofit organization in Wuhan to save animals.

According to the introduction on the association's social media, it has rescued over 8,000 animals, especially stray dogs and cats, and helped them find new, caring homes. The association has a base, which hosts over 600 stray dogs.

He also says that some pets food companies contacted the association with the offer of free pet food during this challenging time.

As a Wuhan native, Du is used to the bustling streets nearby his house.

"I even couldn't fall asleep because of the crowds downstairs, but since the outbreak began, the city is awfully quiet, especially at night," Du says. "The streets are not crowded anymore. There are no traffic jams. People don't walk their dogs now."