Stay of execution granted in Thailand

[Guest guest]

Hello again,

 

I had been all prepared to write to you all, to update you on my efforts at

setting up PhaNgan Animal Care, but I have just had some much more exciting

developments that I would love to share as well.

 

Firstly, the setting up of the clinic went extremely well - you can read all

about the opening by going directly to my September newsletter - click on:

www.phanganac.fsnet.co.uk/News/september01.htm

 

My exciting news has yet to make its way to the website, so I will fill you in

here.

 

On the night of the 24th of November, I was informed that the annual (and

sometimes biannual) kill for Koh PhaNgan was planned for the 27th of November.

This was a decision made by the mainland government due to the presence of

Rabies on the island, and it has always been the only option available to them

for canine population control.

 

I wrote to the District officer, Mr Chananwat (who originally granted me the

permission to start PAC), to beg him to allow us the chance to try it our way.

The letter was translated, and as well as presenting it to Mr Chananwat (who was

not responsible for the decision), Chris (one of the veterinary nurses working

with PAC) brought the appeal and a Thai copy of our mission and case statements

to the Veterinary Office on the mainland, where it was very positively received.

 

This was followed, the next morning, by a plea to the Lord Mayor of Koh PhaNgan,

Mr Kao, who (after an hour of sweet talking from Chris!) agreed to a temporary

stay of execution on the grounds that he received official notification of the

numbers and theories behind neutering versus killing. The letter that I sent Mr

Kao has been copied into this message for those of you who are interested to

read it. Mr Kao's response was extremely favourable, and he admitted that he did

not like the killing either. He has now agreed that he will notify us in advance

of any planned kills, and we will update him on our figures as we go.

 

The Stay will only remain if I can control this population and vaccinate enough

animals, so I guess I'm going to have to buckle down to finding more vets in

need of a holiday!

 

That's all for now - exciting, though, isn't it?

 

Yours,

Shevaun

 

Shevaun Gallwey MVB MRCVS

Founder & CEO

PhaNgan Animal Care

 

PO Box 70, Thong Sala, Koh PhaNgan

Suratthani, 84280, Thailand

 

Find out all about our work at: http://www.pacthailand.org

 

Letter to the Lord Mayor:

29th

November 2001

Dear Mr Kao,

 

Firstly I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to you for cancelling the

kill planned for the 27th. I realise that it was extremely short notice and I

apologise for not having approached you sooner, but I was only informed about

the planned kill 48 hours before the day!

 

I have worked through the most valid points regarding PhaNgan Animal Care's

program and policies, and hope that this will explain clearly to you why

neutering is a vastly superior option for long term population control.

 

In addition to the following explanations, I would like to point out the

financial aspects of our work. As we are carrying out this work with money from

our own pockets and by donations alone, the government will not have to pay for

this work. As I understand it, with killing, the government must pay for each

animal killed. If we can control this population by our own methods, the

government of Koh PhaNgan will be able to save the cost of these once or twice

yearly killings.

 

Furthermore, the laying of poison at this stage is most likely to target those

animals that we have spent so much time and money on over the last few months,

as these animals are healthier and stronger and therefore more likely to reach

the meat before the weaker, unsterilised animals. To kill them at this stage

would be to undo everything that we have accomplished so far, and cause us to

start again, as if from scratch.

 

 

1. The Rabies virus.

As I understand, there have been 2 people who have died on the island due to

rabies virus infection within (I think) the last 10 years. Please correct me if

I am wrong with these figures as I received them from Dr Somsak (the private

practitioner in Koh Samui) and the Dog Rescue Center Samui; I did not research

them myself (and am unsure of how to begin doing so!), but they are certainly

figures that I would like to know accurately.

 

Due to the relatively low number of clinical cases of Rabies seen in the canine

population, it is safe to presume there is a virus reservoir to be found within

the wild animal population in the jungle. Unfortunately, it will not be possible

to eradicate this reservoir (though there has been the use of vaccine-laden bait

in Europe for the control of Rabies within the fox population, and this has been

shown to be considerably effective, however this sort of project is well out of

my league, at this stage!), however, I can try to minimise the susceptibility of

the dog population, and therefore hopefully remove the most common source of

transmission from jungle to human.

 

For this reason, every animal that is sterilised receives a tattoo (in the left

ear) and a Rabies vaccine - we are sterilising every female we can find, and all

fighting and 'problem' males. In addition, every male that is found by the

nurses running PAC receives a Rabies vaccination and a collar (not the most

effective form of identification, but all we have at the moment!). Each of these

vaccines is recorded in our database, including the location and description of

the animal), and they will be followed up yearly for booster vaccines.

 

The Koh PhaNgan hospital has already been notified that if any person is bitten

by a dog with a tattoo in the left ear (not the easiest thing to examine in an

irate dog, I know!) or a collar, then it is not necessary to undergo the

expensive and drawn course of 6 anti-viral injections.

 

 

2. Neutering versus culling

It is important to understand the nature of the dog population and the actual

effects that the laying of poisoned meat will have upon it. The most common

practice on Koh PhaNgan for the 'owner' of a bitch who gives birth regularly, is

to abandon the pups in the jungle. These pups, if they survive, will have a very

high chance of exposure to Rabies here, and have very little (and usually

negative) knowledge of humans. In addition they tend to be stressed due to lack

of food and severely irritating skin diseases.

 

Among the humans is where the rich pickings are for food, and dogs will

establish their own territories (within ours) where they will tend to remain

once their piece of land is won. As with evolution, it is the fittest that

survive, and this is because they are stronger and faster and will win that

tasty piece of meat before any of the weaker animals. The role of these leading

animals is to guard that area and keep it clear of other dogs, and many of the

longer term residents even manage to establish a regular feeding routine from

some nearby humans, which will help to keep them stronger.

 

Poisoning: When poisoned bait is laid, it is, unfortunately, these stronger

animals that will succeed in reaching the meat first and therefore the laying of

bait tends to target, on the whole, the established animals. Following their

death, a prime piece of land (in dog terms, of course) suddenly becomes vacant,

and this is the opportunity for those wild, starving young dogs from the jungle

to have a chance to move in. This is a very stressful time for these animals as

they will all fight to obtain the rights to that land, and here is where the

main problems will occur with regard to humans - not only are they already on

the war-path, and so very ready to bite whoever gets in their way, but they are

coming from the jungle, and therefore have a much greater likelihood to bring

Rabies with them.

 

In conclusion, to lay poison once or twice a year will cause the island's animal

population to turn over very rapidly, continually allowing new opportunities for

the jungle animals to emerge, stressed and fighting, into civilisation. It also

prevents the building of normal, established, canine social groups, which tend

to remain stable and usually have absolutely no desire to bite the hands that

fed them! It therefore can only serve to exacerbate the chances of exposure to

Rabies virus and increase the chances of attacks on humans.

 

Neutering: As I stated, most of these jungle pups come from 'domesticated'

bitches, usually belonging to individuals, resorts or restaurants. In this

project, my first aim is to sterilise all of the domesticated females, so that I

can remove, once and for all, this continuous (and vast!) supply of new animals

in the jungles. Once these animals have been sterilised, their health blossoms

without the six-monthly pregnancy-birth-suckling cycle, and their stresses are

reduced by at least 90%, as they no longer need to worry about and protect their

litters. The result is a far healthier and happier population who, if allowed to

live out their lives naturally, would not expand, but would be able to continue

to rule, guard and protect their area of land for several years. This allows the

development of a stable population who are therefore very unlikely to turn on

those with whom they share their space. In addition, they would, of course, not

only be vaccinated regularly against Rabies, but would have a far lesser chance

of exposure to this virus than those replacement dogs from the jungle.

 

In conclusion, a sterilised population will stop acting as the source of the

wild jungle population, which, in turn, should have a faster rate of decline, as

natural selection works faster in the wild. If these animals are allowed to live

out their lives naturally, this will ensure the building and maintenance of

constant, established and stable canine social boundaries. They will be a

healthier, less stressed population whose permanence will allow them to grow

with their surrounding humans thereby minimising the likelihood of aggression.

As they will all be vaccinated against Rabies, the risk of attacks or infection

of humans is vastly lower with this scenario.

 

3. Population Control

Neutering provides a permanent solution to population control. If animals are

not neutered, there will always be replacement animals to fill the void left by

the animals killed. Therefore killing will have to continue yearly or twice

yearly to keep the population at a steady level, and, as stated, these

replacement animals are much more likely to both carry disease, and to be

aggressive towards humans, who they are not used to sharing their space with.

Short of annihilated the entire canine population, yearly killing cannot

possibly provide long term population control.

 

In terms of the time frames, I am trying to establish statistics to estimate the

exact time required to gain control of the population. This is difficult to do

accurately, as we are working with population estimates, but I have decided to

do all I can to find a population surveyor to visit the island so that we will

not only have an accurate estimate of the existing population, but will be able

to accurately follow the fluctuations over the next few years and therefore

prove or disprove PAC's effectiveness.

 

Presently, the canine population of Koh PhaNgan is estimated to be 2000 - 3000

animals. With an equal distribution of the sexes, this means approximately 1000

- 1500 female dogs. In the few short months since opening, we have already

managed to sterilise 130 animals, of which 90 were dogs. Of these 90, we have

sterilised 75 females, which makes 5 - 7.5% of all female dogs, already. Each

female can produce 2 litters per year of average 5 - 7 pups per litter, so we

have therefore already reduced the number of pups born within the next year by

750 to 1050. This is during the opening months of our clinic, which has yet to

reach a wider audience and therefore receive more support from veterinarians and

nurses willing to volunteer their time.

 

If we continue at a rate of 25 female dogs per month (a number I would expect us

to exceed as we gain more support), we will have sterilised all the females on

the island within 3 to 5 years. After this time, there will be no population

growth at all. Over the years, as the number of sterilised animals grows, the

population that shares our living space will become stable, healthier, and

rabies vaccinated - this population will therefore also be a lot happier and

have much less reason for aggression - remember, a lot of the aggression comes

to light at breeding time, which occurs twice yearly, and sterilised animals

will no longer have seasons and therefore there will be no stimulus for

aggression amongst the males. As we are starting with the domesticated, or

town-dwelling dogs, there will also be far less opportunity for the jungle dogs

to move into the towns, and therefore far less chance of exposure to rabies.

 

Summary

- Neutering is the only option for long-term population control

- We have already neutered 5 - 7.5% of the island's female dogs

- We have reduced the number of pups born in the coming year by 750 - 1050

- At this rate, we will have every female dog on the island sterilised

within 3 - 5 years

- We are vaccinating every animal against Rabies - already 200 vaccines

given

- We are preventing potentially infected, wild jungle animals from moving

into the towns

- By allowing a stable, healthy population to develop, we can ensure far

lower incidences of aggression to each other and to humans

 

I hope that this outlines clearly for you, the theories behind our work, and I

hope that these figures are sufficient to grant us a " Stay of Execution " for the

next few years, to allow our efforts to reach their full potential. I will

absolutely understand that if, at any time during our work, the population does

expand beyond its present boundaries, or unforeseen problems arise, that a kill

may be warranted, but I would be very grateful if we could be notified in

advance, and included in the decision making for these kills.

 

Once again, I am very grateful to you for allowing us to have a chance to show

you what we can do, and I look forward to meeting you again upon my return to

the island in January.

 

Yours truly,

 

Shevaun Gallwey MVB MRCVS

Founder and CEO

 

PhaNgan Animal Care