200 Dogs Saved From Meat Market: Nakhon Phanom

[maidu]

waaaaaaay too many dogs in Thailand. Even the ones with owners are out of line. Dogs at wats (temples) are a big problem, at best.

Thailand desperately needs dog shelters - where dogs can put down painlessly, if abandoned. Thailand desperately needs free neutering services. I would also like to see max 1 dog per family - each additional dog = Bt.1,000/month tax - used to provide shelters.

I have 4 properties in Thailand. Every one has dog problems. No exceptions. The number of barking untended dogs in Thailand is phenomenal. It's a reflection of Thai peoples' ignorance, most of whom have zero idea of what it means to have a pet.

[sunshine51]

I am glad to see that the authorities are trying to do some good. Generally Thai people are very good to their dogs. Remember these are intelligent and affectionate animals. The big problem is the demand has to be stopped in other countries. Loong and Artist you are sick in the head, I wish you would be collected and put into a crowded cage for maybe several days and you know the rest. How can you complain about something so mundane and suggest such a practise. Get a life.

How many Thai people do you see exercising or positively disciplining their dogs. Majority do neither, just leave them alone all day & half the night in small compounds with the dogs bored and constantly barking though lack of socialisation and anxiety. Same applies to many foreigners

+1 Simple1

[koto]

I am glad to see that the authorities are trying to do some good. Generally Thai people are very good to their dogs. Remember these are intelligent and affectionate animals. The big problem is the demand has to be stopped in other countries. Loong and Artist you are sick in the head, I wish you would be collected and put into a crowded cage for maybe several days and you know the rest. How can you complain about something so mundane and suggest such a practise. Get a life.

How many Thai people do you see exercising or positively disciplining their dogs. Majority do neither, just leave them alone all day & half the night in small compounds with the dogs bored and constantly barking though lack of socialisation and anxiety. Same applies to many foreigners

And that is why the stray dogs should be spayed so the numbers go down and let them live a free happy life, able to mingle with other dogs and the many humans that love, feed, water and care for them.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

[marstons]

NAKHON PHANOM, Nov 8 -- Some 200 dogs were rescued ..........................

.................... finding dogs crammed into 40 cages, seven to 10 dogs per cage.

A lot must have been dead already.

Since the last big arrest, nobody comes to our village to swap buckets etc for dogs.

This has resulted in the growth of the canine population, larger and more aggressive packs. It's only a matter of time before somebody is seriously injured or killed by these animals. I have to carry a stick with me when I walk to certain areas.

It is not a very nice trade, but at least it helps to control the dog population. Without it, people need to take responsibility for their animals, especially the bitches.

The local goverment departments should be taking responsibility for the street dogs. I doubt the meat trade makes any impact on the wild dog population at all.

[sunshine51]

Looks like Soi Dog's will have more work now...

Some may even graduate to being sniffer dogs.

Or cancer sniffing dogs or dogs for the disabled, or emergency rescue

dogs....the possibilities are endless if they're given the chance.

[fstarbkk]

Too many dogs start theri life as a nice fluffy plaything.

When it gets older the poor animal is not fluffy any more, and will be chucked out of the house

Then a new fluffy plaything is bought, spray-painted or not, and history repeats itself.

Very sorry for all those poor animals, but in very many araes of the country the dog population is getting a problem.

There are so many dogs running wild now that animal welfare stations, or private organisations, could never cope with the numbers.

Many dogs lead an awful life, are sick, and not taken care of in any way.

Maybe, just maybe, the dog population is now so huge culling might be the only solution.

I hate to say this, but I could not think of any other solution.

And because of the silly people taking a fluffy plaything every time, the culling gets more important.

Unfortunately culling has time and again been proven ineffective in areas where this was done, even where local governments sent killing squads out every day for decades. The only approach that can bring sustainable improvements is mass sterilization on the scale done in large urban areas in India for example.

A few years ago the BMA in Bangkok committed serious resources to this approach and, together with some private organizations like SCAD, began to show some tangible results. Alas, the effort was largely abandoned by the next government and valuable ground has been lost.

The dog meat trade, aside from being a despicably cruel business, could never make a statistically meaningful impact. There are no easy answers in the face of the existing stray population in Thailand and their amazing birth-rate.

But if everyone who's complaining about the nuisance these animal create would support one of the animal welfare organizations who conduct sterilization programs in their area, real progress could be made, one neighborhood at a time.

And yes, I know what I'm talking about, having spent several years working for an animal welfare NGO.

[BrooklynNY]

When I was in Bangkok, I spent my free time rescuing stray dogs and cats in areas of Thonglor and Ekkamai where I temporarily stayed. I don't complain, instead I take action and although my action does not help solve the overwhelming stray dogs/cats population in Thailand but I managed to help 10 abandoned cats in a short time, to have them spayed and neutered and placed them for adoptions. I do the same in USA and I would do it again when I go to Thailand.

There are private non profit groups of animal rescuers in Thailand have been actively involved in helping stray dogs and cats.

Unfortunately that most Thai people are ignorant and they do not give a dam_n about stray dogs and cats.

Here are some Thai links about DMT rescue that you do not need to understand Thai language but you will see the pictures of a hand full of Thai workers and volunteers tried to help those rescued dogs from dogs meat trade.

http://www.pantip.com/cafe/jatujak/topic/J12790046/J12790046.html

http://www.pantip.com/cafe/jatujak/topic/J12851798/J12851798.html

[theslime]

Don't you have a voluntary organization to sterilize the stray bitches like in other countries?

start with the bitches at soi 7

Ooh, did some one get Broken Hearted doing it with THE BITCHES. Sucked in Mate, you was stooged eh?

[cooked]

Actually the way that wild animals are treated in Thailand is much worse.

Try reading http://www.wfft.org/wildlife-general/wildlife-friends-is-still-fighting-charges-after-nemesis-retires-ap/

that should put things into perspective and give you some insight about the Thai attitude to animals.

[Johnice]

""Since the last big arrest, nobody comes to our village to swap buckets etc for dogs.""

Can i get a bucket for my next door neighbor and his wife?

[Keesters]

Stealing dogs out of people homes?

The dogs would not get stolen if they were properly leashed or kept indoors or behind a fence when unattended.

Dogs can still get stolen if leashed or kept indoors or behind a fence just as your television can be. I once had a dog killed by thieves who were after and got my motorbike. But I see where your coming from and agree that if you own a dog; leash it or keep it indoors or behind a fence. Any dog found wandering the streets is fair game for the dog nappers. It is up to the dog owners to be responsible and take care of their pets. Letting your dog freely wander around the street is irresponsible not only to the dog but to your human neighbors as well.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Keesters

[Keesters]

A bit closer to home, I have seen many times pickup trucks crammed full of dogs heading on down the soi towards the sea front where there are many restaurants, (Baan Amphur) the trucks come back later empty.

The Restaurants are all popular and every night there are many tourist busses (passengers look like chinese) heading for these restaurants.

I told my son and he said its not ilegal in Thailand to eat dogs !!!

Should I inform the autorities or will that be a waste of time?

Do exactly the same as you would do if you saw a pickup truck crammed full of pigs. Have the dogs/pigs been stolen? Are the dogs/pigs being treated badly?

[Keesters]

I am glad to see that the authorities are trying to do some good. Generally Thai people are very good to their dogs. Remember these are intelligent and affectionate animals. The big problem is the demand has to be stopped in other countries. Loong and Artist you are sick in the head, I wish you would be collected and put into a crowded cage for maybe several days and you know the rest. How can you complain about something so mundane and suggest such a practise. Get a life.

How many Thai people do you see exercising or positively disciplining their dogs. Majority do neither, just leave them alone all day & half the night in small compounds with the dogs bored and constantly barking though lack of socialisation and anxiety. Same applies to many foreigners

And that is why the stray dogs should be spayed so the numbers go down and let them live a free happy life, able to mingle with other dogs and the many humans that love, feed, water and care for them.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

Spaying is for female dogs (bitches). Personally I'd suggest neutering the male dogs. Not only is it easier, faster, cheaper, it has the benefit of calming what might be an aggressive dog. Only one of the sexes needs to be sterilized to hopefully reduce the population or at least keep it under control and my choice would be the boys.

[Keesters]

NAKHON PHANOM, Nov 8 -- Some 200 dogs were rescued ..........................

.................... finding dogs crammed into 40 cages, seven to 10 dogs per cage.

A lot must have been dead already.

Since the last big arrest, nobody comes to our village to swap buckets etc for dogs.

This has resulted in the growth of the canine population, larger and more aggressive packs. It's only a matter of time before somebody is seriously injured or killed by these animals. I have to carry a stick with me when I walk to certain areas.

It is not a very nice trade, but at least it helps to control the dog population. Without it, people need to take responsibility for their animals, especially the bitches.

Maybe they think you are a PUSSY! I do.

You think I'm a pussy? Why? Is it because I carry a stick in case I need to defend myself?

Luckily, unlike you, I don't see myself as a super macho guy.

I also have enough intelligence to know that if I am attacked by group of dogs I will have no chance of fending them off with my bare hands.

I have no choice but to walk past these dogs every day and they make me more than nervous.

You have my sympathy loong. I'm a dog owner and when I take my pet (a 38kg labrador) out for a leashed walk we are often hassled by street dogs. From one place I pass about 20 dogs come running out, of the unfenced property, snapping and snarling. 'Just how many dogs do you need', I've asked of the owner. 'As many as I like' is the irresponsible reply. I now also take a big stick with me. Generally just waving the stick at the street dog makes them back off. They seem to know what a stick is and what harm it can do to them.

[richusa]

Looks like the dogs on the 2 bottom cages are the common people, getting all the shit and pea, the middle cage are the working class and the top cage are the top brass. Look and see !!

[Gary A]

Anyone who has ever seen a poisoned dog die will know that is a horrible way for any living thing to die. I happen to be a dog lover and I have a dog.

What irritates me is the pious do-gooders who rant and rave about these unwanted dogs being collected. Rather than whine and whinge,they should organize and have these dogs sterilized. That's the ONLY solution to the problem.

The bucket truck (collector) used to make regular visits to our village. Since the do-gooders started their complaining, our village is being overrun by dogs. I would much prefer the bucket truck collect these animals than have the villagers take care of the problem. The dogs are starving and there are free range chickens all over the village. Once a starving dog kills one of those chickens, they are condemned to death and are killed in whatever way the villagers can devise. The more cautious and hard to catch dogs are usually poisoned.

[Keesters]

Excerpts from the writings of Mahatma Ghandi. See http://www.karmayog....dhijiletter.htm for full text

A roving dog without an owner is a danger to society and a swarm of them is a menace to its very existence…. If we want to keep dogs in towns or villages in a decent manner no dog should be suffered to wander. There should be no stray dogs even as we have no stray cattle.

We offend against dogs as a class by suffering them to stray and live on crumbs or leavings from our plates that we throw at them and we injure our neighbours also by doing so.

I am therefore strongly of the opinion that if we practice the religion of humanity we should have a law making it obligatory on those who would have dogs to keep them under guard and not allow them to stray and making all stray dogs to be liable to be destroyed after a certain date.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Keesters

[Rimmer]

Some inflammatory posts and quoted replies removed.

If you see an inflammatory post press the report button, do not quote it as your post gets removed as well, Thanks guys

[denishuahin]

We, Europeans, should not forget that during the 2nd world war there were no dogs or cats safe in any place. They all disappeared at night and popped up the next day in pots and meat stew... Nothing wrong in eating dogs. Some people eat horses, in Laos I saw squirrels as food, Japanese continue to eat the whales for scientific purposes... and somewhere on a Danish (or is it Norwegian?) island there is a yearly slaughtering of pilot whales as it also exists in Japan, but then with dolphins...

Oh so that's all ok then?

[Keesters]

We, Europeans, should not forget that during the 2nd world war there were no dogs or cats safe in any place. They all disappeared at night and popped up the next day in pots and meat stew... Nothing wrong in eating dogs. Some people eat horses, in Laos I saw squirrels as food, Japanese continue to eat the whales for scientific purposes... and somewhere on a Danish (or is it Norwegian?) island there is a yearly slaughtering of pilot whales as it also exists in Japan, but then with dolphins...

Oh so that's all ok then?

I see nothing wrong with eating whatever you like as long as the slaughtering is humane and it does not bring the species to extinction. A dog can be a pet or a food source, as can a pig, horse, fish etc. Stealing someones cared for pet and turning it into food is theft and wrong but capturing street dogs and doing the same isn't. It is actually doing a service to the community just as the anti-mosquito spraying does.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Keesters

[ajarnpot]

surely it is a better use for the animals than letting them run aroudn the soi's?

[ALFREDO]

Since the last big arrest, nobody comes to our village to swap buckets etc for dogs.

This has resulted in the growth of the canine population, larger and more aggressive packs. It's only a matter of time before somebody is seriously injured or killed by these animals. I have to carry a stick with me when I walk to certain areas.

It is not a very nice trade, but at least it helps to control the dog population. Without it, people need to take responsibility for their animals, especially the bitches.

I live permanently since 10+ years in two different rural Isaan villages, Provinces Chayaphum and Udon Thani in countryside,

I can confirm, that there are now no Pick up trucks been seen, asking or looking for dogs,

I cannot confirm, that there are significantly more dogs (on the roads) nor,

that it is more dangerous to walk, or drive in my villages I stay in,

or that I recognize more dogs on the road trips I make to shop in shopping centers, in different directions, up to 85 km far away.

Edited November 9, 2012 by ALFREDO

[fstarbkk]

I am glad to see that the authorities are trying to do some good. Generally Thai people are very good to their dogs. Remember these are intelligent and affectionate animals. The big problem is the demand has to be stopped in other countries. Loong and Artist you are sick in the head, I wish you would be collected and put into a crowded cage for maybe several days and you know the rest. How can you complain about something so mundane and suggest such a practise. Get a life.

How many Thai people do you see exercising or positively disciplining their dogs. Majority do neither, just leave them alone all day & half the night in small compounds with the dogs bored and constantly barking though lack of socialisation and anxiety. Same applies to many foreigners

And that is why the stray dogs should be spayed so the numbers go down and let them live a free happy life, able to mingle with other dogs and the many humans that love, feed, water and care for them.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

Spaying is for female dogs (bitches). Personally I'd suggest neutering the male dogs. Not only is it easier, faster, cheaper, it has the benefit of calming what might be an aggressive dog. Only one of the sexes needs to be sterilized to hopefully reduce the population or at least keep it under control and my choice would be the boys.

Good points. However, in reality spaying females is more effective for a number of reasons. Male dogs tend to be migratory and even one unneutered male can "service" many females in a large area, and in a short period of time. Those females can each produce several litters a year, who then in turn will have litters of their own.

Females are more territorial and once a majority (say 70%) of the females in a given neighborhood are sterilized, the population in that area will stagnate or decline, as studies have shown.

Edited November 9, 2012 by fstarbkk

[ALFREDO]

Artist I never said I hate humans read the post, howver I hate ignorant people like you that compare dogs to fruit. You need to get out more, perhaps to a Doctor.

You said that you wished that I and Loong would be collected and put in a crowded cage for several days and you know the rest. This suggests to me either a general hatred of the human species or an irrational hatred of two members of the species who you know nothing about.

There is not a lot of point is discussing the issue with somebody whose intellectual capacity is limited to insults

"Since I got to know the people (Artists) and how they are (write and think), I love the dogs!"

[ALFREDO]

I think there are nicer ways to control the dog population neutering being one of them. Apart if people have emotional problems with it but why does nobody breed dogs in Vietnam?

Breeding, feeding them up for a year or so until, the dogs are meaty enough to be culled, is expensive!

To take some from the road or for a plastic bucket worth 10- 20 Baht is nearly free, no?

I saw signs for Dog farms for meat dogs in Isaan, but their meat is sure better, but much more expensive!

[ALFREDO]

There is a complete lack of respect for living beings in most Buddhist countries. Dognappers, wildlife traffickers but also drivers ferrying pigs from place A to B in incredible small cages should be packed in small crates or cages and driven the same way from the North of Thailand to the South of Thailand without giving them any food, water or rest. It's my pleasure to volunteer as a driver of these people.

Wouldn't putting people in small crates or cages and driving them around show a complete lack of respect for living beings?

I would drive them around to in same conditions the dogs are driven,

special that laptop bound dog cruelty revolutionaries, dog assassins and "Artists",who show,

"a complete lack of respect for dogs".

Edited November 9, 2012 by ALFREDO

[ALFREDO]

Thai dogs don't like me and the feeling is mutual. I too have to carry a stick when I ride my bike around the village. I always enjoy watching the nasty little animals going on holiday in the dog truck. Properly cooked they make good eating so its a win win situation.

Oooh. I think you must be a very bad man. Even worser than the Wicked Witches. BITE HIM TOTO!!!

Artist, its your attitude and your aura. +Same you call and shout into the forest, it resounds back.=

[ALFREDO]

Get real guys. What happens is that a truck comes around, the friendlier (looked after and yes, loved) dogs are loaded onto a truck and driven a long way. One Bangkok politician saw his dog on TV and traveled to Buriram to get it back. These guys are disgusting. What's next? stealing young girls for prostitution? Not a big step up.

The dog problem can be dealt with otherwise. We don't have a dog problem in our village apart from the mad lady that poisons dogs now and again for no apparent reason. Guys advocating the kidnapping of dogs are real big men, I bet they never killed and butchered an animal in their life.

They stole 4 dogs, I took care off and that dogs, liked me a lot for that, in 2 different places in Isaan from my GFs yard in early morning hours.

They where well fed, so interesting prey for these disgusting people! I even woke up from the fearful sound they made.

But I did not even know which way they went away,to late to make a pursuit.

[ALFREDO]

Have a look at the countries that enjoy horse meat > http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Horse_meat

So... which meat is really good to eat?

Is this not a case of "The pot calling the kettle black" ?

Ok, I ate sometime also a -Pferde Leberkaese- Horse meat in Austria,but you know, what happened only a 100 - 120 years ago, if you dared to take (steal) such a horse wandering around near the road with you and sold it, or brought it in your home in the USA?

Hanging without question asked is the answer!

And that is what happens to some (many?) dogs here in Thailand. They are stolen!

[Keesters]

How many Thai people do you see exercising or positively disciplining their dogs. Majority do neither, just leave them alone all day & half the night in small compounds with the dogs bored and constantly barking though lack of socialisation and anxiety. Same applies to many foreigners

And that is why the stray dogs should be spayed so the numbers go down and let them live a free happy life, able to mingle with other dogs and the many humans that love, feed, water and care for them.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”

Spaying is for female dogs (bitches). Personally I'd suggest neutering the male dogs. Not only is it easier, faster, cheaper, it has the benefit of calming what might be an aggressive dog. Only one of the sexes needs to be sterilized to hopefully reduce the population or at least keep it under control and my choice would be the boys.

Good points. However, in reality spaying females is more effective for a number of reasons. Male dogs tend to be migratory and even one unneutered male can "service" many females in a large area, and in a short period of time. Those females can each produce several litters a year, who then in turn will have litters of their own.

Females are more territorial and once a majority (say 70%) of the females in a given neighborhood are sterilized, the population in that area will stagnate or decline, as studies have shown.

If one unneutered dog can service many females surely neutering the dog rather than many bitches would be a more effective way to reduce the number of puppies. And as far as Thai dogs go I don't see them migrating much. I see the same dogs and bitches in the same place year after year. With no links to studies given I'll stick with my choice of "fix the boys".