Famished and unattended mastiffs in search of care

YUSHU, Qinghai - Jiangyuan Prince, a Tibetan mastiff, walks slowly, growls, reluctant to look at the flour paste in his bowl. When a stranger approaches, he barks angrily and wildly yanks on his chain.

"He is the best in appearance of all the existing Tibetan mastiffs I know of. Yet he wasn't fed well after the quake and has become much thiner," said Tselho, the dog's breeder in Gyegu town of Yushu prefecture, as he gently touches the mastiff's hollow stomach.

As Yushu struggles to recover from the devastating earthquake that killed at least 2,200 people in April, Tibetan mastiffs, an ancient and expensive breed in China, are dying because of shortages of food and medicine.