Thai Stray Dog Trafficking to Vietnam Figures

This short video report about the dog meat trade in north-east Thailand is interesting for the figures it gives on the illegal smuggling of dogs into Vietnam. Along with their talk of political and police corruption plus mafia-style gangs, the report also claims that around 1,000 stray dogs collected from farms and villages are smuggled from Thailand to Vietnam via Laos every night. With the value of each dog jumping from $2 at source in Thailand up to $20 in Vietnam making the annual trade worth about $3,600,000 in an otherwise poor region it is easy to see why dog trafficking is so attractive and why it will be difficult to stop.

Some of the cruelty involved in this trade comes from traditional beliefs as to how to improve the meat but it is also caused by the fact that the trade is illegal and therefore has to remain secretive and hidden from the view of the wider public. 

Out Of The Frying Pan…

The Bangkok Post reports here about the problems of what to do with the thousands of dogs recently confiscated from gangs in north-eastern Thailand. Destined for the cooking pots of Vietnam and beyond several truckloads of dogs have been saved by authorities in recent months. However, of the thousands of dogs taken from the smuggling gangs an estimated 700 have died since being saved. This is partly a consequence of the very poor condition they were already in when rescued but also due to the insufficient facilities and resources available to house, feed and treat them properly. The official shelters in the region are all full so the dogs now have to be transported further and the annual hot season with temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius isn’t helping.

Public donations are being sought but whether the dog meat trade smugglers are caught or not the prospects for the dogs are bleak.

Kashmir Stray Dogs Again

Another article here about the stray dog problem in the Kashmir valley which notes that we have to accept responsibility for creating the problem in the first place by providing the “food and harborage” that enables such a high density of dogs to survive.

The author then goes on to discuss the two possible solutions: the short-term culling approach or the generally more acceptable longer-term sterilization approach (“surgical neutralising of dogs”) that he favours.

However, as with several other articles I have come across, he fails to include the suggestion of any improved waste management in his long-term strategy. Failing to tackle the root cause will mean continual management is necessary, and this omission might make a cynical reader wonder if there is any vested interest involved in the writing.

Stray Dog’s Eye View

This short video by the Animal Humane Society is part of a campaign to encourage stray dog adoption and prevent pet abandonment. It’s an interesting dog’s-view angle but a lot of it looks to have been filmed “off-dog” and is a carefully scripted story rather than reality. I would love to see something like this that does actually follow the life of a stray dog. Comparing strays in different situations would be especially interesting for me whether abandoned pet or street dog or village dog. 

Sofia’s Stray Dog Problem Caused By Ex-guards?

This article outlining the ongoing problem of aggressive stray dogs in Bulgaria contains a clue as to perhaps why Sofia’s streets dogs are aggressive to the point of killing one man. A spokesperson for an animal rights group says that corrupt practices in the sterilization program to boost catching squads’ income have not helped but interestingly also points out that the economic situation has resulted in the abandonment of guard dogs from closed-down construction yards. Dogs trained to be aggressive to human strangers are unlikely to live peacefully in a large city full of unknown people. This combined with the role of facilitated aggression whereby dogs will follow the lead of other dogs’ reactions to people and you can quickly get a situation of intimidating packs of confrontational dogs. It is hard to imagine that these abandoned guard dogs form a high percentage of the city’s strays but it would only take a few to create enough of a problem for this to be presented as the norm in the media.

If it is the case then, rather than targeting all stray dogs, a relatively quick way to reduce the problem might be to identify the most immediately aggressive dogs and remove them from the streets thereby removing the trigger that sets off the other, less tempermental, strays.

This would just require some careful observation of the reaction of a group of dogs to being approached by a stranger. Which is the first dog to show signs of aggression? Such information is probably already known by people living in the area. Unfortunately, it would also require a genuine interest in solving the problem and lack of corrupt practices amongst the catching squads.

Outlawing the Sellers to Reduce Pet Abandonment

According to this article, there are so many pets getting abandoned in Louisiana that the state is making the commonplace selling of pets along roadsides, in parks and other public areas illegal. It is felt that these vendors make impulse-buying too easy, which all too frequently results in the eventual abandonment of the animal after the realities of pet ownership sink in. The aim is to ensure that buying a pet is always a considered decision.

My experience of Thailand suggests that this is also a major problem here (and presumably elsewhere as well). Many markets have adorable fluffed up puppies for sale with vendors only interested in making a sale not in the animal’s long-term welfare. Then an estimated 30,000 pet dogs get abandoned to the streets of Bangkok every year. I am convinced there is a very strong link here.

It is perhaps a shame to have to be restrictive in this way but the general public has shown that it can’t be trusted so well done Louisiana for setting an example.

Did Working With Dogs Give Us The Edge Over Neandertals?

This article in American Scientist presents an interesting theory that working with wolves/early dogs gave modern humans the edge over Neandertals during the 10,000 year overlap of the two living together in Europe and the middle east. Using modern-day evidence to show that hunting efficiency improves with the aid of dogs plus evidence that early dogs were associated with modern human campsites but not Neandertal campsites, the author surmises that it was these canines that meant the human population “grew so rapidly that it overwhelmed Neandertals with its sheer numbers”.

But why did the wolves/early dogs work with modern man rather than Neandertals? The author’s theory is that it might have been due to the whites of our eyes (the sclerae) which are uniquely ubiquitous amongst people and make it much easier to follow eachother’s gaze. This could have given modern humans an advantage in silent communication whilst hunting and this could have included early dogs as well given that dogs have been shown to have a particular talent for reading our gaze direction. However, this theory depends on the lack of white sclerae in Neandertals for which there is no evidence one way or the other at present.

Cruel Stray Dog Control in Mauritius

This article from the Daily Mail is a damning account of the dog control program on the island of Mauritius where the catching, storing and killing methods as reported are very cruel and the catchers apparently all too keen to include pets in their daily catch in order to reach their quota of over 100 dogs a day.

With no rabies on the island the stray dog control program is supposedly to protect the tourism trade but this article suggests there isn’t actually a conflict between the dogs and the tourists.

The Mauritian Government may have their own side of the story but if this account is given wider publicity in the UK, from where around 200,000 tourists travel to Mauritius every year, then they will probably do far more damage to their own tourism industry than the stray dogs ever did.

Man Shot, Stray Dogs to Blame

Bulgarian stray dogs have been in the news recently due to their attacks on people, which have now resulted in the death of one man. There have been increasingly vociferous calls for them to be “dealt with” and heated debate between animal welfare organizations and those wanting a quick solution, which have dragged the Prime Minister into the fray.

And now another man is in hospital thanks to the dogs. Or at least, thanks to the stray dogs making themselves a target for a man to shoot at who then accidentally hit his neighbor instead.

As yet I have only seen sensational media reports and am looking forward to what I would call a neutral account of the stray dog situation in Sofia, one that unbiasedly describes the current situation and provides some clues as to how it might have developed. For example, abandoned pets that regularly get kicked or shot at would understandably have an aggressive attitude towards people. 

They clearly do seem to have a stray dog problem in Bulgaria but only blaming the dogs is unlikely to point the way to a long-term solution.

A Visitor’s Experience of Sri Lanka’s Stray Dogs

This is the sort of experience with stray dogs that I like to read about. This blogger/photographer, Lester Picker, visited Sri Lanka and posted about the “considerable number of dogs” he found everywhere. His blog starts with the typical attitude of seeing a “feral dog problem” but his final paragraph reads:

“None of the dogs I saw were aggressive in any way. Instead, they sometimes come up to you, tail between their legs, looking for scraps of food. Most will adopt a family and just hang out around their homes, if they are in a rural area. In towns and cities, the dogs will hang around parks or in front of shops. People do not seem to mind at all and never once did I see a person shooing a dog away. Peaceful coexistence ala Buddhism.”

This is the more open-minded view of stray dogs in tropical areas I wish more people would take. It’s not always so peaceful and maybe he stills thinks they are a problem but these traditional village dogs that have not been badly treated and therefore are not aggressive to people are a great advertisement for others of their ilk. And this is just what most visitors would see if they opened their eyes more.

Chilean Water Cannon and Stray Dogs

Source: blogs.reuters.com via Bordemundo on Pinterest

An interesting blogpost here for its photographs of Chilean street dogs and a water cannon being fired by riot police last year. I would love to know more about what was really going on and don’t quite swallow the blogger/photographer’s interpretation that the dogs were on the side of the protesters. It could be play, could be thirst, could be aggression. Unfortunately it’s a case of the photographs being ambiguous enough to allow a perhaps biased interpretation. Great pictures though.

Adopting Stray Dogs from Overseas

This CBS News story highlights a growing trend, particularly in the US, for adopting stray dogs from abroad. Holidaying in foreign lands often brings people into contact with many things with which they are unfamiliar and this includes unowned street dogs. The reaction is often one of wanting to help these animals and increasingly animal welfare groups in some countries are making it easier to do so by helping you to adopt a stray and take it home as a pet.

People’s reaction to street dogs is interesting in itself as dogs have a wonderful talent for eliciting pity from us. I suspect that this came about from their need to deflect human aggression whilst living as scavengers around human communities. Living close to people means encountering people. Neither fight nor flight would make much sense in that lifestyle but looking nonthreatening would be a good tactic. It’s then a short step from cowering and cringing to begging through looking helpless and pathetic. In some ways they are quite manipulative and have us in the palm of their paw but deserve respect for that. However, it certainly does also go further than this and many unowned dogs are genuinely in dire straits and need help from people perhaps due to being an abandoned ex-pet, for example.

Many people’s reaction to the adoption of stray dogs from overseas is to question the expense and ask whether the money couldn’t better be used in a different way. This is usually my first reaction as well but I do also have a lot of sympathy with the direct connection that people have made. Another viewpoint would be to pat the dog on the head and say, “well done dog, you caught them hook, line and sinker!”.

The thing that worries me is the assumption that all these dogs need to be saved in the first place. I’m sure many of them do but am equally sure that many actually have a better life than they pretend.

“Pothead” the Stray Dog

A stray dog in San Antonio has had an unusual problem for months (report and video here). Whilst foraging it somehow got a plastic flowerpot stuck around its neck and has been running around with it ever since. Looking like he’s wearing one of those protective collars fitted by vets after an operation, “Pothead” as he is now known, can still run around and apparently feed normally but there are fears for his long-term well-being. All efforts to catch and help the animal have so far failed.

Pet Abandonment will Swamp Efforts to Help Bangkok Stray Dogs

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.]

Feeding Stray Dogs Not a Crime

A couple of years ago two people in Mumbai, India, were arrested, hand-cuffed and paraded around their housing community for the “crime” of feeding a stray dog who then bit somebody. According to the Mumbai Mirror, the charges have only just been dropped with the court declaring that “feeding stray dogs is not a crime”.

This fairly extreme case highlights growing tensions in Mumbai communities over how to deal with strays with a vociferous majority arguing against feeding them on the grounds that it will result in an increased population. For many housing societies the aim is dog-free streets and people who dare to feed them face fines and victimisation.

It seems that the traditional village dog does not sit comfortably in modern urban India even though some people still readily accept them. I suspect that this is also the general trend in many other cities and I just hope that the attitude does not spread to more rural areas where the traditional relationship between people and unowned village dogs remains intact.

This particular case of the breakdown of the human-village dog relationship perhaps suggests an even more serious social breakdown whereby a relatively minor dispute requires the involvement of the police followed by humiliation of the “offenders” and then the courts. 

Stray Dog Song

The first song I've come across about stray dogs and not a bad advert for adopting street dogs rather than buying purebreeds.