Last month, the Soi Dog Foundation - a charity set up to care for the abused and neglected dogs of phuket - sent out a press release appealing for help in raising 5 million baht to pay for the other half of their land before October, 2011.

They have raised 600,000 baht so far. The Post went to speak with owner john dalley to ask him what help, if any, is being provided by those who theoretically could?

Have you ever asked for help from government funding?
Actually we were asked to help the government with funding for a dog pound. We invested 3.5 million a few years ago to improve the facilities on the understanding that we would also use the facilities. soon after the improvements were made however we were asked to vacate as they needed the room.

Local governments operate regular vaccination programs for cats and dogs. are you in regular contact with officials?
Local orbortors and livestock do carry out rabies vaccinations, though they are often poorly attended. In the past few months SDF has operated mobile clinics in conjunction with patong, mai khao and rassada orbortors with orbortors financing the drugs etc. our plans are to expand these clinics if we stay on phuket.

Many people on the island have suggested that you and PAWS (another Phuket animal welfare centre) join forces, would that be something that you would consider?
Following the tsunami, I attempted to work with PAWS and suggested we divide areas, but they have always refused to cooperate and stated they will not work with SDF. Sad but true?

PAWS works differently to SDF. They operate a commercial clinic and only treat dogs brought in by paying customers or their own volunteers. They do not actively catch dogs or have the facilities to do so. Calls for help (e.g road accidents etc) are referred to us. One recent case involved a dog which was hit by a car 100 metres from their surgery!

What will happen if you do not acquire the other half of the land? What is the worst case scenario?
We own part of the land, but the hospital and the other facilities are on rented land, unfortunately there is not enough space on our land to move the facilities there.

We have a legally binding contract to be able to buy this remaining land but that expires in October this year. The worst case scenario is we close the Phuket SDF shelter, sell the land we own and move all the facilities to Phang nga or Krabi.

Our operations on Phuket would cease. Expect to see a massive increase in the stray population and sadly an increase in inhumane methods of control.

People should consider what it would be like if the 32,000 animals we have had sterilized had not been.


What help or assistance from the Thai government would you like to see introduced?
A ban on the industry of selling imported puppies at weekend markets and pet shops etc. dozens of these are flown and shipped to Phuket almost weekly. They are typically not vaccinated against rabies or other diseases.

Unsold puppies are discarded and are adding to the stray dog population. Many that are sold are also later discarded. A previous head of livestock here announced that no dogs would be allowed on the island unless micro chipped, fully vaccinated and registered. Of course this never happened. I frequently see wire cages stuffed with puppies at the loading dock at Phuket international airport cargo dept. waiting to be picked up by the dealers. The way they are transported is also completely against IATA regulations.

Closing of the dog pound would also help. Most of the dogs there die a slow death from starvation and disease and it is a pointless exercise. Removing sterilized dogs from an area just means that others that have not been de-sexed will move in if there is a food source and the problem gets worse not better. SDF volunteers do remove severely injured dogs from the pound, even having to pay "fees" to staff to do so in some cases, but that is as much as we can do.

If you would like to help, you can make donations at www.soidog.org.