Western Reaction to Thai Street Dog Poisonings

The expat residents of Pattaya in Thailand do not paint themselves in a good light here. The story pertains to the poisoning of six street dogs apparently for persistently defecating in a potato field. This was probably done by a Thai man but then at the end of the story, which makes it clear that the other Thai residents do not share this man’s dislike for the dogs, come the obnoxious comments from callous expats happy to see the dogs gone.

These comments are full of the stereotypical views of “snarling, mange-ridden” strays and most are openly supportive of the poisoner, although there are one or two more moderate voices saying that the killing should be more humane.  The comments are also full of the western belief that all dogs should be owned and have no place wandering the streets, which is certainly not the case in Thai culture. Two posters even agree with such killing and then support their views by complaining about the noise from pet dogs.

The poisoner will probably face some punishment for the deed, albeit relatively minor, but the western expats will carry on freely espousing their vitriolic, inhumane and ignorant opinions.

More and more I see that the problem I write about is human not canine and that there is so much work to do.

Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer)