Fw: [AR-News] (CA - US)Truly dedicated veterinarian: Headed to Thailand on mission of mercy

[Guest guest]

Helping Asia's animals: Vet headed to Thailand on a mission of mercy

 

By John Lindblom - Record-Bee staff

 

LAKEPORT -- Entirely at his own expense, Lakeport veterinarian Chris Holmes will

travel to tsunami-ravaged Thailand on Feb. 26 for a three-week mission of mercy

for stray dogs and cats.

 

" There's more than enough work there to do, " said Holmes, who only within the

last month became aware of the enormity of the problem for animals in Thailand.

In Bangkok alone, Holmes learned, as many as 300,000 sick and hungry dogs roam

the streets.

 

Holmes will aid the Soidog (which means " Street Dog " ) Foundation. In addition to

paying his own expenses, the Lakeport veterinarian who practices at the Wasson

Memorial Veterinary Clinic on Highway 175, will take along donations from

pharmaceutical companies and others.

 

The stray dog and cat problem is a part of what is being referred to as a

" second tsunami " in Thailand, Holmes reported. Tourism a staple of the country,

he added has all but vanished following the region's disaster.

 

Holmes said he became aware of the dog and cat problem through Dr. Kerry Levin,

a Ukiah vet.

 

" She told me she was being flown to Sri Lanka and her trip was being sponsored

by the Associated Veterinarians for Animal Rights (AVAR). She thought they

needed someone to go into Thailand, " Holmes said.

 

Because he had been to Thailand while in vet school at the University of

California, Davis 10 years ago, the idea caught on with the Lakeport animal

doctor.

 

" So, I contacted AVAR with the hopes it would have the funding to send me to

Thailand. They said they wouldn't know for a few weeks and referred me to the

Soidog Foundation. "

 

No funds there, either. Nor through the Humane Society Internationale.

 

" When I found out I wasn't going to get funded, I said, Too late; I'm already

hooked on it. I'm going, " ' said Holmes, who acknowledges he will miss the income

from his 10-year-old Lake County practice.

 

But the conditions for dogs and cats Holmes learned about in his research are

just too pitiful to be ignored. As a rule, dogs and cats in Thailand are not

treated in the same way as the U.S. But the tsunami has exacerbated already

abominable conditions, i.e.:

 

There are no agencies to protect them from abuse;

 

There are no humane shelters;

 

Dogs and puppies are rounded up in mass neutering and spaying sessions, and

after a short period in holding pens, put back on the streets where their

neutering wounds often reopen and become infected; and

 

There is rampant culling by strychnine poisoning, which results in slow

agonizing death particularly now when merchants and others associate the stray

dog and cat problem with the drop-off in tourism. The logic among Thais is that

they don't personally kill the animals, who, after all, chose to eat the poison.

The same logic is applied to throwing live animals into crocodile pits. " It's

the crocs, not us. "

 

" The (tsunami) problem exists throughout the whole perimeter, " Holmes said.

" From Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the former Burma down through India and Sri

Lanka on the Indian Ocean. We think we have an overpopulation problem in Lake

County and we do, but nothing like what you'll see over there.

 

" There is no money and no priority to spay and neuter. Vets are mostly concerned

with livestock. "

 

The concern in Sri Lanka is the effect on humans of a major rabies outbreak, he

added. " Once there's an infected population, it spreads pretty quickly. "

 

Stray dogs travel in packs in Thailand, Holmes said, but adds they have not

attacked humans.

 

" I don't think that's a real problem; that's how they live, " he continues.

" People there put out leftover food and at Buddhist monasteries people will

bring donations to keep the dogs alive. There are many people trying to take

care of the dogs and only the rare person who tries to poison them to cut down

on the population. "

 

In many cases the dogs and cats are surviving pets of Tsunami victims. Soidog

Foundation founder Margot Park told Holmes that many of the dogs and cats come

to cities from rural areas looking for food. When they scavenge for food, he

added, they are much easier to pick up for control procedures.

 

" Right now, the biggest problem in Thailand is lack of money. There is only a 10

percent occupancy of hotels, " said Holmes. " There are many jobless people who

need help because everyone has been scared away.

 

" But, look, there are no bodies floating in the ocean. "

 

Holmes will take his family with him to Thailand, where they will vacation while

he treats animals at what he expects will be three different locations.

 

" Unfortunately, I can't rebuild the tourism or bring back the dead people, but I

feel I can make a dent in the problem, " he added.

 

Contact

 

By John Lindblom at jlindblom.

 

Editor's note: Although Dr. Chris Holmes has received some donations from

pharmaceutical companies to aid in the efforts to combat the dog and cat

overpopulation problem in tsunami-ravaged Thailand, cash donations are needed.

 

Readers who want to help support the work of the Soidog Foundation, which Holmes

is voluntarily assisting, can contribute to the " Animal Disaster Relief " fund at

Lake Community Bank. For information how to help Holmes' mission to Thailand,

call him at Wasson Veterinary Clinic, 263-5380.