The Bangkok Post newspaper ran a feature about a woman, Phimpakarn
Petpichetchien, and her struggle to improve the welfare of street dogs in Bangkok
with the Soi Dog Foundation. Her group is aiming to sterilize and vaccinate 15
dogs a week and hoping to see tangible results within 10 years. She admits the
group is small and therefore limited in what it can achieve but she also has the
good idea of encouraging local community projects to get involved.
Unfortunately, the article does
not mention the root cause of the problem, namely, the abandonment of pets.
Figures reported in the media a few years ago indicated that an estimated 30,000 pet
dogs were getting dumped on Bangkok’s streets every year. Since then the
Bangkok Metropolitan Authority have enacted new ordinance laws to try to
control dog owners, which does head towards the heart of the problem, but with
a human population used to inefficient or even totally absent rule enforcement,
I have seen no evidence to suggest that the rate of abandonment has slowed.
I commend this lady for her
efforts to improve the lives of individual stray dogs but feel her efforts will be
swamped unless a better way to leash the owners is found.
[Incidentally, I also like her appropriate surname, PETpichetCHIEN.]
Although long term a better strategy might be to capture and sterilise dog owners?
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