Soi Dog Foundation tackles Koh Kood stray dog problem

The foundation announced that its two-week project, which started on March 14 was completed successfully.

KohKood is Thailand’s most remote island with untamed jungle and pristine beaches, lying off the coast of Cambodia.

Over the past few years, various hotels and resorts have been built on KohKood and some of the workers who built them brought dogs with them. However, once the work was completed and the workers left, unwanted dogs were left behind and bred, resulting in around 700 stray dogs living on the island.

With insufficient food to support them, the vast majority of the puppies born each year are condemned to a short life of suffering and starvation. The nearest vet is a two hour boat trip away, so there is minimal treatment for any sick or injured dogs, although Mantas Pra and his wife Rasa, who live on the island do their best to provide care for the dogs

With the support of the Department of Livestock Development(DLD), the army, local authorities, hotels and the local population, the two teams led by Soi Dog departed from Phuket to start their mission on March 14 to control the population of the dogs. Joined by the vets from the DLD for the first four days, the team managed to treat 663 animals under challenging conditions. 

John Dalley, president of the Soi Dog Foundation said: “We would like to thank the members of the team and the support from the local population which made the project a resounding success. We have prevented literally thousands of more unwanted dogs from being born on the island in the future”. 

The foundation said many other islands, which previously had no dogs, are now facing the same problem with Koh Kood.

Dalley called on the developers to be more aware of the problem, and be more responsible by not allowing workers to bring dogs into their labour camps, thereby avoiding unnecessary and uncontrollable dog population growth near completed hotels and resorts in the future.

Results from recent surveys have indicated that there are about 640,000 stray dogs currently on the streets of Bangkok. Whilst Soi Dog Foundation has initially focused their successful efforts on the southern provinces, they are looking at expanding their number of teams and with the help of the DLD, to treat a target of 100,000 dogs per year using the same approach that has been so successful in Phuket. 

Dalley said “Sterilisation is the most humane and cost effective way of reducing the stray dog population. Talk of removing all of Thailand’s stray dogs to shelters is impractical and financially unsound. In addition to a lack of facilities that would be able to meet acceptable animal welfare standards, the costs of feeding and looking after them would be astronomical”.