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Sherry's Diary

Dogs in Phuket

 

"I had to hold back the tears at the sight of a dog standing on the foundation of a demolished house.  He looked out from the rubble to the river as if anticipating the arrival of his owner who would never return".

 

Sherry Grant

Phuket, Thailand

5 January 2005

Wow what a day – where to begin, maybe I should start at the end…..as I was on my way from visiting the Phuket municipal animal shelter (more on this later) when I got a call from Miranda Leitsinger, from the Associated Press, who was in Kao Lak covering another story.  She got a call that there were people at the lagoon – it wasn’t clear if they were catching the dolphin or clearing the catch area as discussed in the planning session the day before.  She called to check out the details called me back again.  She told me that the dolphin had been caught and released to the sea.  She was able to ascertain that the dolphin had only surface lacerations which surely came from being tossed through the palm forest that stands between the beach and the instantly formed lagoon.

Miranda that she was told that the dolphin was easily netted by Thai locals but she did not know how they had transported it to the sea.

I sent a message to Jim Styres to let him know the dolphin had been caught and released.  When I mentioned that it was an easy to catch he thought that this might because it was tired.  No one knew of the fate of the second, the adolescent, dolphin.

After getting the news, Edwin Weik went to immediately to the to look for the other dolphin.  But night fell and before he could confirm its fate.  I have my fingers crossed.

NOW THE DOGS……….and there many.

In Kao Lak it was reported by several sources that the dog population as been reduced by 50%.  It was not clear whether or not those dogs got swept to sea or just ran to the hills.  I remembered that after the Bali bomb we did not see many street dogs for nearly five weeks.  

Before the tsunami, there use to be many dogs in Patong (the main touirst city on Phuket Island).  Now you only see them in the temples.  We did not see any dog carcasses around Kao Lak.  

The only veterinary facility recently built by Dr. Trethpa, who divides his time between Phuket and Kao Lak, was completely demolished.  Now the locals do not have a veterinarian and they started calling the government  for help with their animals both working animals and small animals.

Margot Parks earlier that the dogs are getting hungry.  This  was evident when  Jill Robinson, of Animals Asia, Dr. Listriani and myself joined Margot, John Dallie and Yvonne de Gaay Stekelenburg on the feeding routes.  This of course brought us up close and put us in the center and reality of what these dogs are facing.  The dog population has been estimated at 17,000 dogs.

The first stop was at the Patong river where there is nothing left of what use to be a small fishing village.  I had to hold back the tears at the sight of a dog standing on the foundation of a demolished house.  He looked out from the rubble to the river as if anticipating the arrival of his owner who would never return.

Missing owner

When we arrived, the dogs immediately recognized the truck and started running across the bridge and barking.  It was amazing.  I had a flash of the Pied Piper.  Margot said the dogs used to jump into the river and swim to the other side and wait for her at the feeding spot but now they are afraid of the water.  Today we fed them in a different place that usual,.  It was a concrete foundation slab with a blue and white print linoleum.  I guessed we were feeding them in what used to be someone’s kitchen.

This area was flattened and a broken sewer pipe pumps into the river.  The people, dogs and chickens have no fresh water.  It is not hard to figure out that there are going to be additional problems for this little enclave as the last of their food source struggle to survive on contaminated and dirty water.

Next we moved along the Patong coastal road, winding up the hill and stopping regularly at the feeding stops.  At one stop, the dogs came out of the under brush and eagerly awaited  the rice and dry food mix.  Yvonne noted that five dogs that she usually saw on the beach were now here.  Another indication that the dog populations have being displaced.  As a result we witnessed unrelenting dog fighting which Yvonne and Margot were quick to break up.  Each stop was the same scene.

On the way back we stopped to catch a dog whose tail had been chopped off by a machete or knife and the tail had a nasty infection and had been laying on the side of the road for a day or two.  John darted the dog so fast you hardly knew what happened.  At the same location we dropped some food off to some locals who feed for Margot and Yvonne.  It was great to see the local participation and appreciation.

Monk's best friend

Next we went to the Wat Kamala ,once a beautiful temple, but now heavily damaged.  here three monks and fifteen of the twenty-five resident dogs had perished.  We were received so warmly by the monks.  The relationship with the monks and the dogs is very special.  They have always been the primary caretakers of the dogs and now they also take care of displaced people, many of whom are crowded into the ruined temple.  The only thing between the temple and the tsunami wave was 30 meter beach and beach front narrow road.  Again the dogs greeted us with unconditional love and excitement.

The main problem facing these dogs is the fact that the restaurant and food stalls that have fed the dogs in the past are gone.  Driving down a road that once was full of restaurants, food sellers and tourists shops, we just see rubble.  Margot commented several times that she had never seen the beach from this vantage point – because the building use to hide the view.  That's when you realize there is nothing left for the dogs, not even a beach chair for shade.

I have never been a fan of shelters and the Phuket shelter is another one to add to the list of shelter disasters in the making.  It was built in May 2003.  At a glance it looks like a bucolic setting in the forest with acres of land for the dogs to run.  They all look happy.  It is not until you get up close and personal and truly understand what this facility is all about that you realize it soon will becoming a living hell.  It could have easily become a  morgue were it not for not SOI Dogs' diligent efforts to spay, neuter, provide veterinary care and most of all, feed the over 300 dogs held captive here with an uncertain future.

Dogs in the Phuket Shelter

The story goes like this.  The local municipality thought it would be an excellent idea to round up all of the dogs in Phuket and rid of them in tourist areas.  They built this shelter with open areas and several cage blocks with no drainage at all.  The catching began and the facility quickly filled it up with dogs.  There was only one problem no one thought about food and veterinary care (there is water).  The municipality quickly realized that this solution was going to cost a lot of money.  The hope was that the restaurants in Phuket would mobilize and send the food scraps to the shelter in a similar matter that had been arranged through the thoughtful networking of Soi Dogs and DIDIT (Yvonne).  What happened instead was the shelter quickly turned into a food dump of oyster shells and the like, food packaging and other restaurant byproducts.  Within three months the government began to distance themselves from the situation.  What they thought was going to be a tourist attraction that people would come to visit and bring food was turning into a nightmare.  Feces disposal, kennel management, and care was not considered in the plan.  Locals were employed and paid for a short while and then the salaries stopped when the food stopped. 

By now the shelter staff were attached to the dogs and good conscience could not leave the dogs.  It was now the beginning of a public relations problem.  With a population of 100,000  the majority living on very low wages, target market was very small.  Advertisements appealing to the locals to donate money to support the shelter feed the dogs failed. Instead there was a public backlash. The ads were pulled and the hope was that it would be forgotten the dogs would quietly go away…read that as die.

Margot, actively campaigned against the shelter, keeps a close watch on the dogs, brings food regularly and provides veterinary care when needed.  She also launched a spay neuter program to prevent the dogs from breeding.

The result?  The municipality has completely walked away from it, and thanks to Margot the dogs are in good condition.  But as always with dogs that are picked up on the street there is a percentage that suffer from skin disease, parvo or distemper.  The sanitation is greatly impacted with out the proper drainage, so there mud around the kennel blocks that reek of sewage.  I was impressed that for 300 dogs the feces was under control.  I only saw two piles and I was told they collect it regularly all day and toss it over the fence.  The facility has a building that would make an ideal clinic that volunteer vets could rotate through and provide the necessary veterinary services.

These dogs were for the most part some were the best looking that I saw in Phuket.  There are more dogs arriving every day as it is seen as a "legal" dumping ground.  It in not unusual for Margot or the shelter workers to find dogs thrown over the perimeter fence, dumped on the highway that runs along the perimeter fence or tied to the entry gate waiting for someone to arrive and rescue them.

And that brings me to the unhappy end of my story.

Depressed and confused

Yesterday, 14 sedated arrived at the shelter.  They were moved from their native island Khia Paittang which was devastated.  Of the original population of 300 indigenous people, only 85 lived.  The people survive as subsistence dear hunters and don’t want the dogs on the island because they can’t feed them and they don’t want them killing the deer.  The dogs arrived at the shelter anesthetized and woke up in the kennel block confused.  Five of the fourteen dogs looked very depressed (see photo)  These dogs were pets who lost there owners and then were taken from their natural habitat.  Margot, bless her heart, photographed the dogs so she can publish an appeal to get these dogs re-homed as they are not strays.

Note:  The is no mention of cats above because we did not see very many.  Those few that we did see were in the areas not impacted by the tsunami and seemed to be well cared for.

 

 

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