Soi Dog

[Guest guest]

from: John Dalley (Soi Dog foundation).

 

Dear xxxxxx,

 

My apologies for taking so long in thanking you for your most

generous donation, as you can imagine we have been literally working

around the clock.

 

It is now more than 9 weeks since the Tsunami struck the countries

around the Indian Ocean. Our own work of course is focused on Phuket

and post tsunami, the neighbouring regions also affected.

 

It is often said that out of everything bad something good always

occurs. In the immediate aftermath of the Tsunami and all the death

and destruction it brought with it, finding anything positive would

have stretched the imagination of any eternal optimist. On a

personal note we lost Leone Cosens, who for years had devoted her

life to helping the animals here and was an inspiration to all of us

at SDF.. When my wife was in hospital for 3 months at the end of

last year, never a day passed when she was not on the phone, even

after her own husband suffered a stroke. Indeed she joked that when

Gill returned, we could schedule their physio together, so that we

could go out and catch dogs. The thing is, she meant it as well!

 

As I reflect on what I have seen as I have toured the region, I have

witnessed many things which I hope can only have long term benefits

for the community as a whole. The selfless generosity and spirit of

the great majority of Thai people, who often having suffered great

personal loss themselves, gave their time, resources, not to mention

their hearts in helping the stricken families of foreign visitors

and residents alike.

 

The foreign ex pats and overseas volunteers who have worked hand in

hand with local people, particularly in the Bang Thao and Kamala

regions, and further afield in the fishing villages north of Khao

Lak to help rebuild local Thai homes and businesses. To see young

and not so young western volunteers rebuilding Muslim and Buddhist

homes alike, can surely only improve relationships here amongst the

local and international communities. It would be nice to think that

the rest of the world could learn something from this too, but that

really would be being too optimistic.

 

In the animal world, with the lack of tourists, and therefore

income, I worry about the local elephant population, and many of the

islands unfortunate unwanted strays are also struggling for food.

Even many owner dogs and cats will suffer as financial hardship

bites. Wild life has also been affected.. Edwin Wiek of the Wildlife

friends of Thailand, estimates that the Tsunami has destroyed the

majority of this years turtle eggs along the entire Andaman coast.

 

Here though there is cause for optimism. SDF have been staggered by

the generosity of the many individuals, foundations and companies in

supporting our work here post tsunami. I should like to publish

details of everybody who has helped us here, but it would simply be

too long a list. However I must thank Animal People for bringing to

the world's attention the plight of the animals here, and

coordinating much of the relief effort. We are systematically trying

to send individual thank you letters to everybody for whom we have

an address, as time allows, and apologise to anybody we have missed.

 

Since January 1st we have had 35 volunteers from overseas, 22 vets,

3 nurses and 10 others who simply wanted to help, and were

invaluable in doing all the dirty work at our clinics. These

volunteers came from all over the world; The United Kingdom, The

United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Sweden and the

Netherlands.

 

We have held numerous clinics as far afield as Baan Naam Khem north

of Khao Lak, where the entire community was destroyed, and yet we

were still able to find over 100 dogs and cats surviving, to Phi Phi

island in the south where over 100 cats are still on the island.

 

At times we have held 2 clinics simultaneously in different

locations. All this means that nearly 1000 dogs and cats have now

been treated and sterilised. Others went to local veterinary

clinics. I well remember a poor dog, who having survived the wave at

Patong Beach obviously hadn't suffered enough in someone's

eyes and

had its tail hacked off. We still have a dog from Baan Naam Khem in

hospital, who had no less than 3 broken legs as a result of the

Tsunami. Sadly it now looks like one of these will have to be

amputated. A lasting positive memory for me, is the lady at Baan

Naam Khem, knelt on the ground feeding a dog. She explained that the

slab of concrete she was kneeling on was what remained of her home.

She now lived in a camp where dogs were not allowed, so returned by

foot each day 2 miles to feed her dog who still remained at the

site.

 

At the time of writing we have 5 vets with us and others are

scheduled to arrive so we are still operating flat out. We thank all

these volunteers for the wonderful work they have done, all at their

own expense. All we provide is lunch and drinks on clinic days and a

free T shirt! Many of them who were not shattered enough already,

spent their days off assisting with feeding, doing overtime at the

dog pound, and visiting and distributing gifts to homeless children

etc.. Fantastic people indeed.

 

On a personal note it was wonderful to see my wife back at clinic

last week. For those who are unaware, Gill recently lost both her

lower legs after contacting a bacteria, whilst rescuing a dog from a

flooded water buffalo field.

 

On the negative side I was saddened to read a report by another Thai

based animal welfare organisation criticising our work. Soi Dog

Foundation has always believed in Catch neuter and release as the

way forward in controlling the stray animal population on Phuket.

Whilst I accept that this philosophy is not shared by everyone, we

make it quite clear that this is our main focus. If any reader

received this report please contact me and I will forward my reply

which answers every criticism levelled against us.

 

So what have we done with the money donated to us.

 

In the past we have always maintained a stance that every penny,

cent or baht donated to us goes directly to the dogs. ALL overheads

are met by the volunteers themselves. We provide our own vehicles,

fuel etc.. We even pay for our own T shirts. Feeding was always done

by individual volunteers at their own expense outside of their work

for SDF.

 

Post Tsunami we have changed our philosophy to a degree because of

the situation raised by the tsunami, and the additional funding

available to us.

 

The late Leone Cosens literally looked after hundreds of dogs in the

south of the island. To do this she employed 3 staff at her own

expense. Since her death SDF could not see this work stop and have

taken over the responsibility of keeping her work going and are now

paying the local Thai staff she employed. In addition we have set up

a network of volunteers along the entire west coast of the island

and have employed the wife of a local vet to coordinate this work.

Some of the volunteers are poor Thais who are being paid a small

amount to do this additional work.

 

We have also employed a Thai vet and assistant on a part time basis.

This vet who we have known a long time had his clinic in Khao Lak

destroyed and he is now working for us on a day to day basis.

 

The condition of the animals by and large is OK. Some did die, and

many have lost their food source because a) the dogs who lived on

the beaches depended on handouts from local thai restaurants and the

tourists who used them. Most of these restaurants were destroyed and

at present there are very few tourists to support the ones that have

returned.

 

b) Volunteers used to get most of their food for feeding from hotels

and restaurants on the island. Again because of lack of tourists and

others closing, such supplies are not as plentiful. SDF will

therefore use funds to buy additional food to keep these dogs alive

and in the same location. As things return to normal, hopefully this

additional aid can be scaled down.

 

In addition because of the huge increase in numbers of animals being

treated, the amount we are spending on drugs and other surgical

supplies has of course also increased dramatically.

 

We have also made improvements to our clinic and are currently

purchasing an autoclave which will help us considerably, as in the

past we have had to rely on a local vet to sterilise our drapes and

gauze.

 

We have had a number of visits from WSPA who have expressed an

interest in supporting our work, as they see Phuket as being a

possible example to the rest of the region in how to control a stray

animal population. As yet no donation has been made but proposals

continue to be discussed.

 

For updates on our work please visit our website

www.soidogfoundation.org.

 

Thank you again,

 

John Dalley (Soi Dog foundation).