The boy, Nolan Jess Anderson, 7, was playing on the beach while his father was exercising nearby on Jan 18 when he was set upon by a pack of about eight dogs.
The father heard Nolan’s screams and rushed to rescue him from the attack, but by that time the boy had suffered multiple bites, with deep puncture lacerations under his left arm from when he held his hands up to cover his face.
The father rushed Nolan to a naval unit nearby. Personnel there helped take his son to Wattanapat Hospital Aonang.
At the hospital, where Nolan was under close observation for five days, Nolan received stitches for multiple bite wounds and given tetanus and anti-rabies shots.
Nolan was discharged from hospital last weekend, and he and his parents travelled to the north of Thailand, officials confirmed.
Echoes
The dog attack on young Nolan echoed another attack in February last year, when 5-year-old Finnish boy Eemi Nikula who was savaged by a pack of dogs on Ao Nang Beach, just a handful of kilometres from Ao Siao.
Eemi Nikula suffered scratches and bites to his torso, back and buttocks, requiring him to spend a week in hospital.
News of the attack made international headlines, prompted a personal visit by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and saw His Majesty The King of Thailand dispatch a representative from the Royal Palace to personally present a gift basket and a bouquet of flowers, and his best wishes for a speedy recovery.
The dog attack on Eemi also sparked a mass roundup of stray dogs in the area as the nation at that time was gripped by fears of a rabies outbreak. (See stories here, here and here.)
Mass roundup
Governor ML Kitibodee on Jan 18 ordered all government offices involved to respond to the incident and give their full assistance.
He later also ordered officials remove all stray dogs from popular beach areas for tourists’ safety.
Junelachat Junelaphet, a veterinarian with Krabi Provincial Livestock Office, confirmed to The Phuket News that the dogs involved in the attack had been removed from Ao Siao Beach.
“A team of livestock officials along with staff from the Nong Thale Tambon Administration Organisation [OrBorTor] removed eight stray dogs from Ao Siao Beach that day (Jan 18),” Mr Junelachat explained.
“This beach is a small one so that officials caught all dogs on there quickly,” he added.
“All eight dogs are now with Lanta Animal Welfare on Koh Lanta. They are observing the dog’s condition for 30 days to make sure they do not have rabies,” Mr Junelachat said.
“After we have have confirmed that these dogs are safe, we will ask for people to contact the foundation to take the dogs in and give them a new home,” he said.
Asked if the mass roundup of dogs as ordered by Governor ML Kitibodee was underway, Mr Junelachat today (Jan 30) said, “Not yet. We are working on it.”
A better way
Non-profit animal welfare organisations Soi Dog Foundation (Soi Dog) and Lanta Animal Welfare (LAW), based on the islands of Phuket and Koh Lanta respectively, recently met with Governor ML Kitibodee.
Also present at the meeting were representatives from local tambon administration organisations, the Krabi Municipality Office, the Department of Livestock Development and the Krabi Hotel Association.
In ordering the mass roundup, Governor ML Kitibodee has already ordered every local municipality and tambon administration organisation (OrBorTor) to create their own dog shelters in each of their respective areas, Mr Junelachat told The Phuket News today.
However, Soi Dog’s Community Relations Manager Sakdapol Thongjan explained that temporary shelters are not an effective, long-term solution.
Operation of such shelters is costly, requiring veterinary and duty staff as well as food and medicine, all of which must be provided for the lifetime of the dogs housed there, he explained.
Mr Sakdapol suggested that provincial budgets would be better spent on a long-term sterilisation and vaccination programme, which is proven to be the most effective way to humanely and sustainably reduce stray dog populations.
Soi Dog’s “Catch, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return” (CNVR) programme has reduced the stray dog population in Phuket by over 90% and has been a significant contributing factor in the island reporting just one confirmed case of rabies in 24 years, said a release by Soi Dog issued today (Jan 30).
Similarly, there have been no reported cases of rabies in Koh Lanta in the past 15 years thanks to LAW’s neuter and vaccinate programme, the release added.
Soi Dog and LAW said they acknowledged Governor ML Kitibodee’s position that incidents like that at Ao Siao Beach negatively impact the tourist image of Krabi.
“However, impounding the dogs addresses the symptoms of the issue and not the root cause. It has been shown that when dogs are cleared from an area, packs from neighbouring areas soon move in. With reduced competition and a good supply of food (from garbage), they breed fast, and within a year or two, the dog population in the area climbs back to where it was before,” said the release.
Mr Sakdapol stressed that the best solution is to catch, neuter, vaccinate and then return the dogs to their territory. Managing the population and keeping the dogs healthy in this way will enhance the province’s image, he said.
“Naturally, there will be dogs with health issues or behavioural problems who cannot live within communities and should instead be cared for in a shelter. However, the shelter is a secondary solution and should run in conjunction with a CNVR programme,” the release added.
LAW’s Dr Helen (family name not supplied) added that pet registration should also be encouraged so that owners can be traced when a pet is dumped on the streets.
“Soi Dog agrees but maintains that the government’s plan to make such registration mandatory under the Animal Cruelty Prevention Act requires careful scrutiny,” Soi Dog said in its release.
“The dogs involved in the incident at Ao Siao Beach are now at the LAW shelter where they have been neutered, vaccinated and will be made available for adoption following behavioural and rehoming suitability assessments. The dogs, two of which are puppies, are reportedly friendly and non-threatening, indicating that they were acting on pack-mentality aggression while on the streets,” it added.
“As for the remainder of Krabi’s stray dog population, Soi Dog and LAW hope that Governor Kitibodee will heed their advice and opt for a comprehensive programme of CNVR, a solution that not only benefits animal communities but human communities too,” the release said.