Heather & Hayley are reunited with Mothi and Stewart
For me being a vet has always
been an incredibly rewarding career, and I’ve found that I particularly enjoy
frontline emergency response work. So I was delighted when the Worldwide
Veterinary services and Soi Dogs offered me the opportunity of contributing to
the veterinary care of dogs rescued from the meat trade in Thailand.
Over 2,000 dogs were rescued at the Thai border en route to
dog meat restaurants in Vietnam. The unlicensed export of dogs from Thailand is
illegal, but unfortunately a thriving illegal trade exists. Most dogs are
community or street dogs, living free-ranging lifestyles but generally owned
and fed by village families. These dogs are rounded up in the night by traders,
or sometimes sold by their owners. In a place where there is an excess of dogs
and a lack of resources, its easy to understand why trade may occur.
Many groups campaign against the trade in dog meat and a
multi-stakeholder organisation, the Asia Canine Protection Alliance has
recently been formed to take a united stance against this trade. There is much
debate around the trade in dogs for meat, with opinions ranging from ‘dogs are
no more sentient than sheep or pigs – why shouldn’t they be consumed?’ to ‘Dogs
are companions and should not be eaten.’ Personally, of course I see dogs
primarily as companions – I’ve never lived without a dog in my life. But the
rational scientist within me also understands that sheep or pigs are equally as
capable of feeling fear, pain and distress and so I cannot draw a line between
these species. For me, what is important is that any animal raised for food, is
raised in a humane way, able to express it’s natural behaviours, transported
humanely, and slaughtered quickly and painlessly with appropriate pre-slaughter
handling and stunning. Of course a black market trade in a species not
regulated for human consumption fits none of these criteria. And if we were to
try and develop humane systems for dog farming and slaughter, how would that be
done? A primarily carnivorous, historically predatory species, kept in large
numbers, unhandleable and aggressive. The slaughter of such dogs is necessarily
brutal.
Intercepted by the Thai border patrol, the arrival of the
rescued dogs swelled the total number of dogs at the Nakon Phanom shelter to
3,049 – in a shelter designed for only 400. Immediate concerns were the triage
and treatment of so many dogs, the provion of adequate food and water, and the
prevention of infectious disease which would sweep through the overcrowded,
dirty pens like wildfire.
Quickly Soi dogs arranged international support and myself,
R(D)SVS Veterinary nurse, Hayley Walters, and a team from Humane Society
International, all travelled to the shelter to assist. Each day was spent triaging
and treating emaciated, sick and dying dogs, in temperatures that were hitting
the mid-thirties. The Thai handlers worked tirelessly to catch and bring the
dogs to us. Though sadly the catching methods were often harsh. Each afternoon
was spent vaccinating a pen of around 150 dogs, systematically working through
the pens until all dogs were immunised against parvo, distemper, hepatitis and
rabies. Effective disinfection of the pens was established, and supplies of
nutritious dog food started to arrive, though we also had to establish
additional feeding stations as competition for food was huge, and some dogs
were literally starving to death.
One of those dogs was a small black female. Admitted to the
vet clinic one morning, she presented with nothing more than severe emaciation.
Initially she was unable to keep down solid food as it had been so long since
she had eaten.
But after some time on a drip, and with the provision of
excellent nursing care, and a cardboard bed from Hayley, she started to look
stronger.
Back in 2008 whilst working for the Animals Asia Foundation
in China, on post-earthquake dog rescue, I was fortunate enough to meet and
adopt Mathilda, a beautiful, skinny, scarred Chinese street dog, and she
accompanied me when I returned to the UK.
Initially a fairly unattractive emaciated dog, Mathilda has blossomed to
the extent that she recently beat around 30,000 other entries to with a Petplan
photo competition and appeared on a national advert. But one of my biggest
worries has always been that Mathilda was lonely, going from a life in China
where she had lots of dog friends, to one in Scotland where she had much fewer,
and I knew that this Thai trip may give me the opportunity to find a new friend
for her.
I know that generally not a vast number of meat trade dogs
get rehomed – many are condemned to lives in shelters with little human
contact, and significant competition for food and resources. If I was to take a
dog from Nakom Phanong, I wanted it to be a dog that really wouldn’t cope in a
shelter. But also, one that wouldn’t appeal
to other adopters (which ruled out the cute fluffy ones). Generally
black dogs are much less likely to be adopted – they’re perceived as ‘common’
and its more difficult to see their facial expressions. But, if you look
closely, you can see they’re pretty cute!
This skinny little black dog caught my eye. Right from the
start she seized every opportunity we gave her. Hungry for life but simply
unable to cope against many much bigger dogs, she was starving to death, and a
high risk of infectious disease. As a nondescript skinny little black dog, her
chances of adoption elsewhere would be virtually zero. As I started to spend
more time with her, Hayley rolled her eyes “Once again Heather you’ve chosen
the ugliest dog in the shelter” she teased. Maybe… But ugly is only skin deep.
Named Mothi, which means ‘black pearl’ in Hindi (because
oysters are pretty ugly, but have hidden value), she was soon officially
adopted and along with ‘Stewart’, Hayley’s chosen dog and began the long
journey to the UK. Soi dogs were fantastic at arranging the paperwork, blood
tests and care of the dogs whilst we waited impatiently in the UK for their
arrival.
And now, they’re finally here! Collecting them at the
airport I was amazed that Mothi immediately seemed to recognise me – greeting
me exuberantly and responding to her name – though to be honest still not the
most attractive dog in the world!
Mothi and Stewart are a wonderful advertisement for Meat
Trade dogs – obedient, playful, well socialised, and bomb-proof after their
mass exposure to pretty much anything and everything you could think of,
they’ve quickly settled into life in Edinburgh and are definitely keeping
Mathilda on her toes, enjoying long walks, and lots of cuddles. They’ve even
made it to an outdoor Fringe show!
I’m extremely grateful to Soi dogs and Worldwide Veterinary
Services for giving us the opportunity to meet and adopt Mothi and Stewart, and
to the Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education and
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary studies for supporting our annual leave
whilst we travelled to Thailand.
