(TH) BKK-STRAY DOGS

[Guest guest]

August 25, 2002

BY VAUDINE ENGLAND IN BANGKOK

 

In Malaysia, 200 were just slaughtered by gunshot. In Bangkok, authorities

admit neutering isn't working. In Bali, an established foundation loves

them.

 

The problem is dogs, particularly stray dogs, who roam cities in packs,

carry rabies, spread filth, and in Thailand, even wander uninvited into

government press conferences.

 

Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), active in Hong

Kong and trying to catch up in Southeast Asia, argue that there is caring

way to rid cities of the stray dog malaise.

 

Their idea is to befriend the animals by feeding them, then to sterilise

them so the gangs die out in an almost natural way. The plan works for

stray cats too.

 

But Doctor Krit Hinranras, of Bangkok's Metropolitan Administration's

health division, admitted last week this just wasn't working.

 

" We've reallocated the money because our plan to sterilise stray dogs has

failed to achieve its goals due to several problems, " he said.

 

Instead of sterilising 30,000 dogs by the end of September as planned, only

5,200 had been sterilised since June 1. City officials found it difficult

to catch the dogs and not enough veterinarians were available to do the

surgical deed.

 

The plan now, he said, was to raise the bounty on caught dogs from eight

Baht to twenty Baht [about HK$1.50 to HK$3.70], and to build kennels for

the animals instead.

 

Malaysia's gruesome example, set this weekend in Semporna, Sabah, arose

from the mauling to death of a six year old boy, apparently by stray dogs.

So police and other officials formed their own packs to hunt down the

animals, killing about 200.

 

Bali's Yudisthira Swarga Foundation takes a more holistic approach.

Thousands of stray dogs there roam the streets hungry and angry, covered in

sores and mange, lacking skin and body parts.

 

Highlighting the role of religious belief in the treatment of animals, this

group dating from 1998 takes its name from the Mahabharata epic. In that, a

character named Yudisthira refuses entry to heaven if he can't take the

stray dog who has become his best friend, whereupon the dog itself is

transformed into a God.

 

This provides the backdrop for the foundation's programmes ranging from

catching and healing stray dogs, sterilising them and trying to educate

residents about the dogs' needs. Foreign vets are brought in to raise local

expertise.

 

Travel guides to Thailand also stress the role dogs might play in the

afterlife, in part to explain their presence at temples where monks feed

them. But they warn not to approach the beasts who seem invariably grumpy

and could send the unwary person who pats them straight to hospital for

rabies shots.

 

The SPCA calls its feed and sterilise plan a No Kill policy. " The

advantages of a 'no kill' policy are clear: the endless round of killings

will be stopped; tax payers' money will not being spent on rounding up and

killing thousands of animals every month; there will be no homeless

suffering animals in the streets causing annoyance to humans, " it argues.

 

But logic doesn't always work in a world where members of the nouveau riche

buy fluffy, yappy dogs the same way they accumulate the latest fashion

handbags, but who close their eyes to the packs which howl.