Soi Dog Foundation wins 2014 'Thailand Green Excellence' Award UK
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Soi Dog Foundation, the Phuket-based dog and cat welfare charity founded in 2003, has been awarded the 2014 Animal Welfare category award in the Thailand Green Excellence Awards by Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya at a ceremony in London.
The awards, introduced by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and managed by Wanderlust Travel Media, are intended to highlight, and further promote, Thailand's dedication to the conservation of its country's precious natural and cultural resources and support sustainable tourism development in tandem with the growing concern over our planet.
Announcing the results of the award, the judges said, “The Soi Dog Foundation demonstrates what a big difference one small organisation can make. They are successfully reducing the population of stray animals, leading the way in eradicating rabies in Thailand (having eliminated it from Phuket), educating tourists regarding stray dog treatment/management, and are making big inroads with animal welfare education. A big-hearted organisation that is leading the way in animal welfare while also benefiting and working with tourists. Impressive!”
The award was accepted on behalf of Soi Dog by long-time Soi Dog supporter actor Peter Egan, star of numerous films and television series at the Excel Arena in London, UK.
John Dalley, co-founder and Vice President of the foundation said “We’re obviously very pleased to be recognised for our contribution to making Phuket a nicer and safer environment for tourists due to our sterilisation, vaccination and animal welfare education programmes. We are also now starting to conduct similar operations in other provinces around Thailand. However, at the same time there are still wider issues that need to be addressed in Thailand concerning animal welfare in general. The illegal dog meat and dog skin trade needs to be closed down, for example, and the upcoming Animal Welfare Bill needs to explicitly outlaw the killing of dogs and cats for human consumption. It’s still going on, and it needs to stop. As this relates to tourism, many holiday makers from the West avoid travelling to countries where dog meat is openly on sale. So ending the trade can only benefit Thailand in terms of visitor numbers.”
