Animal rights groups cry foul over cull of 100 dogs, cats in Chiang Rai

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Animal rights groups cry foul over cull of 100 dogs, cats in Chiang Rai

By Natthawat Laping 
The Nation

 

Photo from Facebook fanpage SOS ANIMALS Thailand

 

Seven animal rights organisations have demanded the Livestock Department explain the culling of over 100 pet dogs and cats at a Chiang Rai village following the spread of rabies there.

 

Residents of Ban Jalor in Tambon Mae Fah Luang in Chiang Rai’s Mae Fah Luang district are angry that officials from the Mae Fah Luang livestock office used the law to force them to hand over their beloved pets to exterminate them to control the spread of rabies.

 

Following reports of the pet culling, the seven groups wrote to the department chief to demand an explanation for what they regarded as an inhumane act by the local livestock officials.

 

A reporter from The Nation visiting the village on Thursday found no pet dogs and cats were left in the entire village, apart from four caged dogs at the homes of Pongsak Wisetpimolkul, 27, and Thidarat Mayer, 26.

 

Each of the two villagers has locked their two pet dogs in a cage in their homes as ordered by the district livestock office.

 

Pongsak said the culling followed a finding on January 21 that a teacher’s dog had caught rabies and spread it to seven other dogs.

 

He said the district livestock office held a January 26 meeting of representatives from each family to let them vote whether they would hand over all of their pets to be exterminated to control rabies.

 

Pongsak said the villagers initially disagreed but the officials threatened that they would be held responsible and would be required to pay fines if their animals were to bite other people and spread rabies.

 

Pongsak said the villagers requested the officials detain their animals for 14 days instead of killing them all but the officials insisted that regulations required that they be exterminated.

 

The officials said if the villagers did not want to hand over the pets they must keep them in cages at all times.

 

Pongsak said the villagers did not have money to build cages and are afraid of legal actions, so they handed over their pets with tears to the officials on January 27.

 

Alongkorn Wibuldejkhajorn said his heart was broken when he was forced to hand over a cat he had raised since it was a kitten to be killed by officials.

 

An official at the district livestock office, who asked not to be named, said the pets had all been exterminated in line with the control measures and their bodies were sent for lab tests.

 

The official claimed that the livestock officials were also sad but they had no other choice.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30337715

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-02-02

[Ruffian Dick]

"Exterminate them to control the spread of rabies"?

Uh, if there are no more dogs and cats, you've solved the dog and cat disease problem. Well done, Thailand!

[tracker1]

If these were pets and are or were vaccinated annually why exterminate them there was no mention ? apparently these weren't strays

[DoctorG]

3 hours ago, tracker1 said:

If these were pets and are or were vaccinated annually why exterminate them there was no mention ? apparently these weren't strays

The owners were apparently too poor to build temporary cages, so do you really think their animals were vaccinated?

[anon4637435435]

I don't want to be blunt but its a solution nonetheless. Rabies aside, these soi dogs spread all kinds of other disases and ticks. My dogs that have there own land and fed by me not the monks feeding their leftovers are requiring more care to keep them clean and disease free than otherwise would if thais kept pets in there own dam land. Some thais dont feed there dogs at all. My neighbours have never feed there dogs. I gave them dog food leftover from our dogs they didnt like and they didn't even know what to do with it. The dog owners are the problem not the dogs themselves. Thais will never get it though.

[canuckamuck]

Good idea to cull strays, but if there were pets in people's possession the best move would have been to quarantine the pets for a few weeks. But a big step forward regardless, just got work on the execution, pun intended.

[masuk]

If any one of the dogs in this town bit, or even licked an open wound, on any person, the person would have to undergo a course of treatment for rabies.

If people want to have a pet but can't ensure it's registered, immunised, wormed and otherwise treated, the only solution is a mass culling.

Personally, I found the soi dogs in my street, friendly, welcoming, warned me of snakes, and were far better behaved than the 3 dogs owned by my neighbour, who could not/would not control their incessant barking.    

[MyFriend You]

1 hour ago, masuk said:

If any one of the dogs in this town bit, or even licked an open wound, on any person, the person would have to undergo a course of treatment for rabies.

If people want to have a pet but can't ensure it's registered, immunised, wormed and otherwise treated, the only solution is a mass culling.

Personally, I found the soi dogs in my street, friendly, welcoming, warned me of snakes, and were far better behaved than the 3 dogs owned by my neighbour, who could not/would not control their incessant barking.    

Thats exactly the reason I had to take the 26 rabies shots in the stomach and back - the house maid's dog licked my hand which had scrapes and open cuts on them from working on my car..........I was never bitten by the dog, just licked............he died from rabies (confirmed by cutting off his head and testing for it) they came and got me two start the series, as well as all the house maids in the compound - they weren't too happy about that.

[Bob12345]

3 hours ago, DoctorG said:

The owners were apparently too poor to build temporary cages, so do you really think their animals were vaccinated?

If the owners didnt have the means to take care of the dogs, they should not have "taken" dogs in the first place.

[chrisinth]

4 hours ago, masuk said:

If any one of the dogs in this town bit, or even licked an open wound, on any person, the person would have to undergo a course of treatment for rabies.

If people want to have a pet but can't ensure it's registered, immunised, wormed and otherwise treated, the only solution is a mass culling.

Personally, I found the soi dogs in my street, friendly, welcoming, warned me of snakes, and were far better behaved than the 3 dogs owned by my neighbour, who could not/would not control their incessant barking.    

How do you register a pet in Thailand? What database does the pet go onto?

 

Really interested in the answer to the above.

[chrisinth]

6 hours ago, bsdthai said:

I don't want to be blunt but its a solution nonetheless. Rabies aside, these soi dogs spread all kinds of other disases and ticks.

I think you have got this a bit wrong. This is not about soi dogs but about villagers handing over their pets to be euthanized instead of being put into quarantine. If you lived in this area it would have been demanded of you to hand over your pets as well.

 

And just for info, ticks are not born on dogs, any dog can pick them up. 

[brucegoniners]

I cannot believe that even this government did something like this.

 

This is just horrible.

 

The people involved should be thrown in prison or worse.

[boomerangutang]

The rabies mention may have been a canard.  They may be some influential person/people in that village who didn't like bothersome dogs barking - which afflicts every town in Thailand.

 

Thais apparently haven't figured out that, if you take a dog from its mother too early, it's going to be a nervous barking dog, the rest of its life.  Many Thais love tiny dogs which look like furry toys - the younger, the better (in their view).   I have 2 rural parcels, 3 miles apart.  There are major dog problems at each.  More than a few times, I've wanted them taken out.  

 

There are myriad problems with dogs in Thailand.  Another which is notable:  Because Thais love puppies, they often get tired of an adopted dog when it grow older, therefore (in their view) no longer cute and cuddly.  Many dogs are abandoned - particularly at rural areas.  In just the little village of Hoy Plakang (where I've resided 19 years), I estimate an average of 3 dogs/night are abandoned.   Some nights, I've seen as many as nine miserable/lost dogs, in the headlights of my truck.  How many villages in Thailand?  Perhaps 10,000?  Multiply that by 3, and that's 30,000/night abandoned, .....that's over 10 million annually in Thailand.  

[Will27]

10 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

The rabies mention may have been a canard.  They may be some influential person/people in that village who didn't like bothersome dogs barking - which afflicts every town in Thailand.

 

Thais apparently haven't figured out that, if you take a dog from its mother too early, it's going to be a nervous barking dog, the rest of its life.  Many Thais love tiny dogs which look like furry toys - the younger, the better (in their view).   I have 2 rural parcels, 3 miles apart.  There are major dog problems at each.  More than a few times, I've wanted them taken out.  

 

There are myriad problems with dogs in Thailand.  Another which is notable:  Because Thais love puppies, they often get tired of an adopted dog when it grow older, therefore (in their view) no longer cute and cuddly.  Many dogs are abandoned - particularly at rural areas.  In just the little village of Hoy Plakang (where I've resided 19 years), I estimate an average of 3 dogs/night are abandoned.   Some nights, I've seen as many as nine miserable/lost dogs, in the headlights of my truck.  How many villages in Thailand?  Perhaps 10,000?  Multiply that by 3, and that's 30,000/night abandoned, .....that's over 10 million annually in Thailand.  

Also, when they get tired of the dogs, the local temple is often their dumping ground.

[canuckamuck]

16 hours ago, chrisinth said:

I think you have got this a bit wrong. This is not about soi dogs but about villagers handing over their pets to be euthanized instead of being put into quarantine. If you lived in this area it would have been demanded of you to hand over your pets as well.

 

 

Only if you refused to cage them for the quarantine period.

[KC 71]

There are yearly free rabies injections given to pet cats and dogs at the temple here ,and we are just 12 km down the hill from there.


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[boomerangutang]

23 hours ago, KC 71 said:

There are yearly free rabies injections given to pet cats and dogs at the temple here ,and we are just 12 km down the hill from there.

Is that one of the many temples in Thailand which have packs of dogs running around, barking? .....and biting people.  That's a whole giant topic on its own.  It gives Thai Buddhism a black eye.