Phuket Animal Support, Thailand - Provides help for Dogs and Cats

The Island of Phuket is known around the world by foreigners and Thais as one of the most beautiful and popular tourist destinations on earth. Its white sandy beaches and panoramic views are much appreciated, making visitors come back year after year. The Island of Phuket is known around the world by foreigners and Thais as one of the most beautiful and popular tourist destinations on earth. Its white sandy beaches and panoramic views are much appreciated, making visitors come back year after year.

Today, the natural beauty of our land becomes overshadowed by the tragedy of thousands of homeless, sick or paralyzed dogs and cats roaming the beaches, streets, parks and hotel gardens without proper care and control. The much-feared rabies is, sadly, transferred easily between cats and dogs which brings the life of everyone, including our guests on the island, in danger.

Everybody who comes to Phuket notices the dogs. If you like the dogs, you don’t want them to suffer and if you don’t like the dogs, you’re upset there are so many. There are many stray dogs and cats on the island and the females keep on having litters that will in turn become strays. When they get sick, they suffer until they die.

Phuket, being an island, has a unique opportunity to showcase the long-term success of a systematic sterilization campaign.

The Phuket Animal Support Group (PASG) was founded in August 1996 by Thais and foreigners alike who want to help these needy animals. Many volunteers go to the temples and beaches to feed, give medicine and vaccinate the animals against rabies, distemper, parovirus and mange. Our main aim is to humanely control the stray population by sterilization.

The number of strays on Phuket is difficult to assess. Predicting future figures is far more easy considering the average life of a female street dog is 5 years. She comes into season twice a year from the age of 6 months and has on average 5 puppies per litter. During her lifetime alone, she would produce in the region of 50 puppies and that would be a conservative estimate.

Since PASG was founded in 1996, over 1500 dogs and 540 cats have been sterilized. In 3 years, we’ve made a huge difference. We receive the invaluable help of 2 veterinary surgeons in Phuket, who, without their help, PASG would never have been able to achieve what they have today. Incidentally one of these vets is a founder member.

Sadly, not everyone believes that sterilization is a proven method of stray animal control. Many dogs are poisoned here and is due mostly, in part, to Phuket’s high season – the winter months when the weather is beautiful and Phuket receives its highest number of tourist arrivals. Many hotels and restaurants want the animals away from their properties when this time of year approaches and poisoning, to them, is a quick and easy remedy. It’s hard work in changing the mental attitude of those who cannot see further than the end of the current high season. This is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. PASG would like to work alongside these establishments in caring for the existing animals through sterilization and vaccinations instead of them paying to have these animals disposed. A band-aid situation covers all, but never heals.

We are confident that our group’s work will have an effect and arouse more community concern for the plight of the strays. Phuket Animal Support is assisted with some government-donated medicines, but more donations are need to do our work effectively. With your help we can do this!

We recently received the assistance of WSPA - The World Society for Protection of Animals who sent a veterinary surgeon for 10 days during which time he visited 10 temples and was able to sterilize over 103 dogs and 53 cats in that time. We hope to have more vets come to visit Phuket and operate on the animals on a regular basis.

Our immediate goals are to establish a fully equipped mobile clinic to be able to sterilize street and temple animals, to educate people in caring for their animals and also to try and recruit more volunteers to assist in any way they can. We do have our long-term goals and with your help, we can realize them.

We are confident that our Group’s work is having an effect and will arouse more community concern for the plight of the strays. The Phuket Animal Support Group is assisted with some government-donated medicines but unfortunately this covers only a small portion of our work. PASG relies solely on donations to carry out their work – WITH YOUR HELP, WE CAN DO THIS.

The Phuket Animal Support Group Thailand
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Phuket Animal Support, Thailand - Provides help for Dogs and Cats

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