PRESS RELEASE:
Soi Dog Foundation was proud to join a sterilisation and vaccination event in Nakhon Si Thammarat recently as part of Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Krom Phra Srisavangavadhana’s “Disease-Free Animals, Rabies-Free People” project.
Held between July 20-24, 2023 at Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan, the event brought together HRH Princess Chulabhorn’s Veterinary Volunteer Unit, officials from Regional Livestock Office 8, Nakhon Si Thammarat Provincial Livestock Office, Nakhon Si Thammarat Municipality, Walailak University and animal welfare organisation Soi Dog Foundation to help reduce the population of stray dogs and cats in the area and to stem the spread of disease, including rabies.
The management of the stray dog and cat population in the area also forms part of the Fine Arts Department’s bid for Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site by 2024. A total of 242 dogs from the temple and surrounding community were sterilised and vaccinated at the five-day event.
Soi Dog has been supporting HRH Princess Chulabhorn’s project in Nakhon Si Thammarat since 2018, working with local government organisations to sterilise and vaccinate animals using the CNVR (Catch, Neuter, Vaccinate, Return) approach. Their two mobile teams move around the province systematically and will continue to do so until they have reached all 23 districts. They are currently stationed in the districts of Sichon and Chalermprakiat.
“In the nearly six years that we have been operating [in Nakhon Si Thammarat], the number of stray puppies born into a short life of suffering has decreased significantly,” said Dr. Patcharee Pipatdirekkul, Soi Dog’s Southern Mobile Manager. “In addition, as the dog population has steadied and declined, we’ve noticed that people’s attitudes towards dogs have improved too.”
Soi Dog has seen similar results in other provinces where their mobile clinic teams operate. There are currently 14 such teams in Thailand – nine in Greater Bangkok and five in the south. Combined with the external CNVR projects they support, the foundation currently sterilises and vaccinates close to 20,000 animals every month and are approaching the milestone of a million total animals sterilised and vaccinated since their founding in 2003.
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