A Message Of Hope To Animal Lovers

[english_farang_lady]

To all of you kindly folk out there who are desterately trying to do your bit to help the sad, distressing and disgraceful coditions of the Pattaya (in particular) street dogs, I just want to give you some hope.

We had six Thai dogs we cared from after arriving and being adopted 18 months ago. We took them in loved them, fed them cared for them, neutered them and treated them, and they turned out to be super intelligent, kind, faithful, loyal and everything one would look for in a compantion dog/guard dog. In fact more intelligent than two pure bred dogs we had in Ireland.

Weaned on rice mixed with leftovers, and dried dog biscuits they are all big strong and healthy, and very happy.

The sad and ever increasing street population of sick, dying, diseased and desperate dogs reflects shamefully on the powers that be in Pattaya and Thailand generally. It proves they dont know farangs or their valued at all. I have come across many many visitors trying to do their bit by feeding these poor creatures. But their kindness only perpetuates the misery.

Thanks to the fantastic resource of Thaivisa (except for a few smart alecks who think they are brighter than they are), it has been a godsend to us. Thaivisa coupled with a sympathetic and caring owner of Pattaya Mail (who cut us a deal of a big colour display ad), we have now successfully homed all six with loving and caring families.

If every farang did half what we did, it would help the situation. I know there are folks out there who do their best, and take on what they can, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. It makes me wonder what kind of families these farangs who dont give a shit grew up in. The over-riding ethos of Western Society today seems to be

"f*** you, me first". And nowhere on this planet is this more prevalent than Pattaya. I speak from some experience having lived in 12 countries over the last fifty years.

So if you are one of the honourable, kind and noble souls doing your best to help, dont give up. Use the free noticeboards at Carrefour, Foodland and Friendship. Stick fliers under windscreens in those Farang haunts. Get someone to take good photographs. Copying charges are low here.

But dont look to vets to help. They are tied to the Buddhist religion like prisoners. In Pattaya anyway, they will not euthanise pets unless they are demonstrably dying. They will not perform a termination on a pregnant female. Far better from the Budhist point of view to condemn these poor creatures to a miserable life of torture and hardship. Relgiion has a great deal to answer for on this planet.

A mention must be given to November Rain of the HuaHin Dog Shelter. She offered, from the goodness of her heart, to take any dogs we could not re-home. This lady deserves a medal. She is one in a million and I hope appreciated by the powers that be.

This message is from the heart. The only way the authorities will do something about the sad street population of Pattaya in Particular is if it is demonstrably shown that dogs walking round diseased and dying, not to mention starving, is torture for most tourists. A long running campaign of signatures of disgusted tourists who will never visit Thailand again because of it (and believe me there are thousands), may, just may, touch a raw nerve with the powers that be.

But a campaign of education for children and a cull of the worst and terminal should be the other two prongs of this attach on this disgraceful problem which is shameful and reflects badly on Thailand.

I was taught there are rights, but there are also responsibilities. And what happened to consciences?

Anyhow, my heart goes out to those who are struggling to cope with what is uncopable.

Hold a chopstick in your hand. Now break it, easy eh? Now hold twenty, and try to break them, impossible right? Those who care about this problem need to join forces. Together you will find support and strength.

My thoughts will always be with you.

[elfe]

the hope lies in people who actually get active and don't look away. it is not only rescueing it is caring for the animal for its entire life...

am very happy to read that you eventually found new homes for your dogs.... well done!

good luck to you efl!

[November Rain]

Firstly, EFL, I'm so glad you managed to get all your dogs rehomed. You have worked so hard for them & it must be such a good feeling to know that every single one of them has gone to a loving home. Well done!

Secondly, thanks for your kind words about me. I'm blushing, and really don't deserve the praise. There are lots of people doing the same as me, on a greater or lesser scale - on this forum are elfe & girlx, to name only 2. Can I just clarify one point though? I run Hua Hin Dog Rescue Center, not Hua Hin Dog Shelter. The latter is a Tessadban run initiative. We have been given some space within their facility, but are entirely different entities with different goals & practices and completely different ways of caring for our dogs. Let's put it this way, as someone who clearly loves your dogs, you would not have wanted them left there.

Thirdly, I 100% agree that the government of Thailand & animal welfare groups should be working together to try & eradicate the stray problem, in all areas of Thailand. I advocate a neuter, vaccination & release programme, coupled with mandatory education in schools. Microchipping & licencing to make owners more responsible would also be a good move. As for culling, I will agree that some dogs do need to be euthanised humanely, but I think that many can be saved if they are brought to a facility where they can be looked after properly. Of course, this would be expensive, but as you say, Thailand is doing itself no favours in the tourism sense by letting these dogs remain uncared for, unvaccinated & having more & more pups on the streets. Whether the tourists love dogs and are distressed to see them in this state, or hate them & don't want to see them there at all, the end feeling is the same.

Owners (as you state) also need to take far more responsibility for their dogs. I see no reason why all owned dogs should not be neutered, unless kept specifically for breeding purposes (& that should be monitored to stop the puppy farm scenario), vaccinated & not allowed to roam without their owners accompanying them. How difficult is that? And, if every farang owner leaving Thailand could try half as hard as you did to find their dogs new homes, rather than abandoning them, LoS would be a far better place for dogs.

[elfe]

november rain i agree 100% to your post.

so the question is how we can do more to have all these programmes initiated?

we are only people whose possibilities are limited. though all the effort is worth to rescue only a single dog and prevent it from multiplying it sadly often seems like a drop in the bucket. animal lovers have to join and try to get more publicity for programmes to be started. putting all the unwanted strays into huge shelters as you described is not the solution and can be animal torture as well. mass castrations are the best way to keep the dog population at bay but how should that be done, even if 'owners' are against the neutering of their half stray dogs.

most of the population here has a different view towards dogs than we western people have. to change the misery of dogs lives here the people first have to see them in a different light. as this is hard to be achieved, at least not quickly, some programmes have to be introduced. one of the main problems here is that most premises have no wall or fence and so the dogs are free to roam around and that is why most problems occur in the first place. so it is a long way...

my thai dogs are the most intelligent, funny and loving, cuddling dogs you can think of. i wish more people would try them as a pet and find out the miracles which lie in a thai 'street' dog

[Jet Gorgon]

With you on that, Elfe. Thai dogs are the best, IMHO. Smart, loyal, easy to care for, and climatised.