Phuket Stray Dog Shelter running short of food

Tawan Chotiworananon, the manager of the Phuket Stray Dog Shelter, located in Thalang, said dry dog food was among the top essentials needed.

“We are facing a shortage of dog food and necessary equipment. This shelter takes care of about 1,000 dogs, which need to be fed about 250kg of pellets per day,” he said.

“In addition, we need canned food for feeding sick dogs, as well as face masks, garbage bags and syringes,” he added. 

“We also need drinking water of any size, examination gloves (size M), and medicine and supplies for treating wounds, such as gauze,” he added.

“Before we had a lot of donors and enough food for the dogs, but lately there have been fewer donors. I understand that many donors are facing problems and are affected by the COVID-19 situation,” Mr Tawan said.

Other essentials are ne to help keep the facility operating, Mr Tawan onted.

“We need sugar for making EM [Effective Microorganisms] probiotic water and a 60-litre tank for keeping dog excrement. We also need coconut-thresh brooms, water hoses and  squeegees, toilet cleaner for disinfecting stall floors, large garbage bins and dishwashing liquid and sponges for washing food trays used by sick dogs,” he said.

BUDGET FAILINGS

The facility was originally designated its own budget, but administrative changes later saw the Phuket Stray Dog Shelter funded by contributions from all 18 municipalities and tambon administration organisations (OrBorTor) on the island.

Those contributions have not been forthcoming.

Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong at a meeting at the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office on Tuesday (Feb 22) asked all local government organisations in Phuket to transfer their budget allocations to the Phuket Stray Dog Shelter promptly.

Vice Governor Pichet pointed out that the shelter was set up in 2004, and for the past 20 years had served to accommodate stray dogs and “nuisance dogs”, alleviating the need for local municipalities to set up their own facilities.

“Phuket has integrated with all local government organisations to support the budget [for the shelter], but due to insufficient budget contributions we have been unable to manage and develop this shelter to be effective as a pet care facility according to international standards,” he said.

“Currently, the Phuket Stray Dog Shelter is managed by the Phuket Provincial Livestock Office, but because the office doesn’t have the budget to operate the facility, it has requested budget support from the 18 local government organisations that bring stray dogs to the shelter,” V/Gov Pichet said.

“The meeting today is to expedite the budget contributions for the Phuket Stray Dog Shelter Project for the fiscal year 2022 from all 18 local government agencies in order to raise the funds so we can manage the facility in a way for the animals to have good health and well-being,” he added.

DONATIONS

Phuket Stray Dog Shelter chief Mr Tawan invited people to make any donations of the items needed, but most urgently dog food.

“People who can donate, please donate to us and donors can call us every day or contact us through our Phuket Stray Dog Shelter Facebook page,” he said.

Mr Tawan added that donors can donate money directly to the shelter or the Phuket Livestock Office through the following account:

• Account Name: บ้านพักพิงสุนัขจรจัดภูเก็ต มูลนิธิภูเก็ตพัฒนายั่งยืน
  (Phuket Stray Dog Shelter Phuket Sustainable Development Foundation)
  
• A/c Number: 805-0-84926-0
• Bank: Krung Thai Bank, Phuket branch.

The shelter is open to receive donations every day, from 8:30am to 4:30pm.

Mr Tawan can be contacted directly at 086-2772699. 

I can't comprehend why anyone would want to keep 1000 stray dogs alive locked up in cages. If new owners can't be found for them the most humane thing to do would be to put all of them down then no budget is needed at all. Use that money to feed the starving unemployed instead.

With all respect, this facility will never reach the international standards.  Sheltering about 1000 dogs (!) in 1 facility are far to many. That problem should be addressed.

Reading with increasing amazement how illogical the set up of simple budgetting is. Typical: "why do it the easy way if we can do it complicated/difficult way that not works". Let Provincial Hall guarantee/supply the budget flow, and it collects contributions from the 18 Tambons.