Thailand – Pet Rescue Fighting the Illegal Dog Meat Trade

Via: City News

CityNews today received information about how Thailand Pet Rescue are working in hard to stopping the trade of dog meat. Panaree Cotchacote and her team of volunteers from Thailand Pet Rescue (TPRC) rescue dogs everyday from certain death – but there’s evidence thousands of dogs are slipping into the illegal dog meat trade because authorities aren’t enforcing the law.

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Panaree knows that the few ‘lucky ones’that survive the journey are often tortured before they are killed. Traders believe that meat is more tender if more pain is inflicted.

But border provinces can put a stop to the “disgusting” dog meat trading by enforcing the law. That’s why Panaree has started a petition asking Governors of Nakhon Phanom and Sakon Nakhon to stamp out the illegal trade.

In just over two weeks, more than 3,000 people have signed Panaree’s petition -click here to add your voice.

Last year, the former Nakhon Phanom Governor implemented a successful crackdown fining local officials who didn’t enforce the law. But the new Governor let trade run rampant again. Panaree has witnessed first-hand the notorious Ban Phaeng border pier packed with dogs crammed in chicken cages.

When she has gathered 5,000 signatures, Panaree will deliver her petition to the Governors directly. With so many voices behind her, she is confident her trip will get media coverage the Governors can’t ignore.

She asks you to sign now, and share the petition with your friends and family, before more dogs are killed.

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=688

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related post:

‘Thailand – Illegal transnational do trader caught – 700 dogs rescued’

https://seattle99.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/thailand-illegal-transnational-dog-trader-caught-700-dogs-rescued/

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Thailand – Illegal transnational dog trader caught, 700 dogs rescued

Via: Pattaya Daily News

An illicit transnational trader was arrested by a Mekong Riverine Operation Unit in the northeastern province of Nakhon Phanom, rescuing 700 dogs which were bound for Vietnam.

LCDR Kritsana Choosai, chief of a Mekong River patrol unit in Nakhon Phanom, led officials to intercept a white six-wheel truck with Sakon Nakhon-registered license plates on Nakhon Phanom-Ban Phang Road.

There were 77 cages with a total of 700 dogs loaded on the truck.

The driver, identified as Mr Salut ‘I like poodle, with my noodle’ Kotetakok, 43, was arrested and taken in for questioning.

Nakhon Phanom provincial livestock chief Pairat Pathumsuwan has coordinated with related agencies to distribute the dogs to different locations to avoid overcrowding situations, otherwise the dogs may develop infection or die.

Mr Pairat said that the Nakhon Phanom Animal Quarantine Station was now overcrowded with dogs, as there were 773 dogs in custody after an earlier arrest on July 25, where 548 dogs were rescued from a trafficking ring and sent to the station, and the TOTAL stood at 1,321 dogs.

If 700 dogs were added to this station, that would be more than 2,000 dogs, where the capacity of the facility was only 800-1,000 dogs, he said.

He said that taking care of the rescued canines cost some Bt10,000 a day  ($320USD).

Mr Pairat said that dog smuggling was also a problem as dog meat was still popular in some countries and illegal traders were continually trying to smuggle dogs into these countries (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia).

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/en/2012/07/29/illegal-transnational-dog-trader-caught-in-nakhon-phanom-700-dogs-rescued/

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personal thought:

It might be my imagination, but it seems to me, I see fewer soi ‘street’ dogs around Chiang Mai of late.

pity

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WARNING! – S.E. Asia – Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

Via: The Nation

A Ranong Public Health official yesterday urged the province’s childcare facilities, in particular 13 centres caring for 3,000 Myanmar pre-schoolers along the border, to watch out for Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD).

Dr Thongchai Kiratihattayakorn said Thai authorities were worried because HFMD outbreaks had been reported in many provinces as well as in neighbouring countries such as Vietnam, where 40,000 patients and 18 deaths were found.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/HFMD-warning-to-Ranong-pre-schools-30186186.html

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UPDATE:

Via: Thai Visa

“Thai Health Ministry: Number Of Hand, Foot And Mouth Disease Patients Rises To OVER 12,000“

Read more, HERE:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/569877-thai-health-ministry-number-of-hand-foot-and-mouth-disease-patients-rises-to-over-12000/

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UPDATE:

“More than 381,000 infected in Chinese outbreak”

Read more, HERE:

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/15/more-than-381000-infected-in-chinese-outbreak/

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reference:

Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a human syndrome caused by intestinal viruses of the picornaviridae family. The most common strains causing HFMD are coxsackie A virus and enterovirus 71 (EV-71)

HFMD usually affects infants and children, and is quite common. It is moderately contagious and is spread through direct contact with the mucus, saliva, or feces of an infected person. It typically occurs in small epidemics in nursery schools or kindergartens, usually during the summer and autumn months. The usual incubation period is 3–7 days.

It is less common in adults, but those with immune deficiencies are very susceptible.

HFMD is not to be confused with foot-and-mouth disease (also called hoof-and-mouth disease), which is a separate disease affecting sheep, cattle, and swine (both are caused by members of the picornaviridae family, but are not trans-communicable between humans and livestock).

Read more, HERE:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand,_foot_and_mouth_disease

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Dogs saved from dinner tables, but still in danger

Via: The Nation

But although they have been saved from dog-trader gangs, no one can guarantee they will be safe and survive in their crowded cages while a shortage of food threatens their lives.

Some of the animals were reported dead or injured. The rest are at Nakhon Phanom Animal Quarantine Station.

They looked exhausted after they were moved from the small cages to be put in the station’s only big cage. But that cage, which has a maximum capacity of 500 dogs, now has to house 1,800. They have inadequate food and water, as the station does not have the budget to feed such a huge crowd of dogs.

Nakhon Phanom Governor Rerngsak Mahawinijchaimontree said his team cooperated with animal-control staff and police to arrest the gangs on Thursday night.

He said they arrested Montree Thanklang, 45, a Nakhon Phanom resident, and Pan Hai, 30, a Vietnamese, while they were in a truck containing 600 dogs passing through the province’s Na Thom district. Four other trucks containing 1,200 dogs were seized while they travelled through Si Songkhram district, where police arrested Noppadon Chaiwangrot, 40, a Sakon Nakhon resident.

Rerngsak said police were told that Noppadon had earlier released 600 other dogs into a forest.

“Police believe all the dogs would have been transferred to a ship waiting in Ban Phaeng district of Nakhon Phanom before going across the Mekong River to be sold in VIETNAM, where lots of dogs are ordered to be cooked as famous exotic dishes.”

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/08/13/national/Dogs-saved-from-dinner-tables-but-still-in-danger-30162662.html

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Mekong River – Xayaburi dam

Via: Bangkok Post

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“Wait be Damned”

Construction work around a controversial dam in Laos which is expected to provide cheap energy to Thailand is well underway despite the project not yet receiving official approval.

An investigation by the Bangkok Post Sunday which visited the area surrounding the Xayaburi dam on the Lower Mekong River last week found major road works under construction and villagers preparing to be relocated.

Several of the villagers said they were to receive as little as US$15 (450 baht) in compensation for moving from the area.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/232239/xayaburi-dam-work-begins-on-sly

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Via: Than Nien News

With less than a week to go before the Mekong River Commission’s Joint Committee makes a decision on a major hydropower dam on the river, environmentalists highlighted its infeasibility and called for its cancellation.

If built, the dam could perpetrate an ecological catastrophe, they said.

“Disruptions to fish migration and food supplies for MILLIONS in the Mekong basin are likely if the first mainstream dam on the lower Mekong is allowed to go ahead,” the WWF, one of the world’s largest independent conservation organizations, said in a statement released Thursday (April 14).

Expert analysis showed that the feasibility study and environmental impact assessment prepared for the Xayaburi hydropower dam in Laos failed to address key environmental risks, the WWF said.

The US$3.5 billion dam, to be built in northern Laos, would generate power mostly for sale to Thailand.

http://www.thanhniennews.com/2010/Pages/20110415182802.aspx