Soi Dog regrets Wat Suan Kaew's refusal to renew MoU
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Soi Dog Foundation, Thailand's leading animal welfare charity, has expressed regret that Wat Suan Kaew has refused to renew a memorandum of understanding with the foundation, prompting its on-going works to help dogs and cats at the temple to be terminat
Martin Turner, Soi Dog’s marketing manager, said the temple did not give any reason for declining to sign a new MoU when the previous agreement expired in March.
John Dalley, co-founder and vice president of Soi Dog, said in a press statement that Soi Doi has spent Bt3.4 million to carry out renovation work to improve the living conditions of the cats and dogs at temple.
“As a result of Soi Dog’s work, the conditions at the shelter today are far better than they were one year ago. While hundreds of cats and dogs formerly lived in small cages, none now live in such conditions. Cats have been separated from dogs, and now live in large purpose-built cat houses. Furthermore, moving dogs into their new runs has substantially decreased the number of animals who live in the large open area in the middle of the shelter, which has reduced dog fights and the spread of disease,” the statement said.
“However, major improvements still need to be made, and the shelter remains highly under-staffed, with just two people looking after more than 1,000 animals. Wat Suan Kaew terminated its agreement with Soi Dog for continued works at the facility in March. Soi Dog remains open to renewing the memorandum of understanding, and is hopeful that in the future an agreement can be reached for works to continue so as to further improve the conditions at the shelter, and further enhance the quality of life of the animals housed there.”
The animal shelter at Wat Suan Kaew was built in 2003 in response to a government plan to cull street dogs and cats in advance of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation summit in Bangkok that year. The government was persuaded to allow the temple to house the street dogs and cats at the Wat Suan Kaew shelter. Unfortunately what followed was the systematic dumping of pet dogs and cats by owners who no longer wanted them. Very soon, a shelter designed for 400 animals was housing more than 1,000 dogs and 500 cats. Living conditions deteriorated, and the condition of the actual buildings deteriorated as well, exacerbated by damage caused during the 2011 Bangkok floods.
