Trade of Shame dogs successfully sterilised
Phuket’s Soi Dog Foundation [SDF] has successfully completed a sterilisation operation at the Khemmarat livestock centre, in Ubon Ratchathani province on Thailand’s far eastern border with Laos, where several hundred dogs rescued from the dog meat trade are being housed.
Friday 3 August 2012, 11:35AM
Most of the dogs recovered appeared to be stolen pets as they were wearing collars.
John Dalley, the SDF Vice President said, “ Pet owners should be aware that gangs are now traveling across Thailand snatching dogs in addition to carrying out the old fashioned method of purchasing unwanted animals in exchange for plastic buckets from poorer areas of the country.”
The dogs at the Khemmarat centre were not segregated so with females coming into season were starting to breed, which would have resulted in potentially more than 3,000 puppies being born at the centre.
A team hired by SDF sterilised 570 dogs over 10 days. SDF has also contributed to the cost of building new fencing to enable segregation of the dogs.
On the 24 and 28 of July a further1300 dogs were intercepted in remote Nakhon Phanomand Bueng Kan provinces, in Thailand’s far east, in two separate raids carried out by the Thai Border Patrol and Royal Thai Navy, assisted by members of the Thai Animal Activists Alliance.
The dogs are now recovering at the livestock shelter in Nakhon Phanom. Initially the Governor of the province refused to allow some of the dogs to come to the shelter until SDF guaranteed to cover the costs of caring for them. Three weeks ago more than 200 dogs died from dehydration at a police center when, according to sources, the authorities refused to take them.
Mr Dalley said, “The dog meat trade and eating of dog meat is abhorred by the vast majority of Thais and the multi-million dollar industry based on incredible cruelty is run by in effect a criminal mafia. Despite this being open knowledge the Thai authorities appear unable or unwilling to halt the dog meat trade at its source and thereby prevent this suffering from continuing.
SDF has already purchased seven tonnes of dry food, which will be shipped to Nakhon Phanom shortly, in addition to vital medical supplies.
Volunteers from the Animal Activists Alliance Thailand and the Elephant Nature Park Foundation are assisting local staff to care for the dogs, many of whom had been hidden in the jungle for several days and were very weak as a result.
The SDF and the Elephant Nature Park Foundation are jointly financing the cost of hiring a lawyer to fight a recent decision to allow convicted traders to claim back the victims of their crimes.
The law being broken relates to the illegal export of animals and carries a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment and/or a B40,000 fine. However no such penalty has ever been imposed on the traders who are making millions of dollars per year from what is an unimaginably inhumane trade.
