PRESS RELEASE:
In a unified effort to transform the lives of Thailand’s street dogs, Niall Harbison and his organisation Happy Doggo have joined forces with the renowned Soi Dog Foundation on a large scale spay/neuter project which will see 2,000 dogs sterilised and vaccinated every single month.
Designed to humanely reduce the overpopulation of street dogs, stem the spread of disease between them and enhance their overall quality of life, the project launched into action in the Southern province of Surat Thani on Tuesday (January 30). In the first day of operation, 47 dogs underwent spay/neuter surgery and received life-saving vaccinations against diseases including rabies, distemper and parvovirus.
Carrying this momentum forward are two fully equipped mobile clinic teams who will move strategically around the province, humanely capturing then neutering and vaccinating street dogs before returning them safely to their territories. Together, the teams have the capacity to reach 90- 100 street dogs a day – or over 20,000 a year – preventing an untold number of puppies from being born into short lives of suffering on the streets.
“There are somewhere between 8 and 15 million street dogs in Thailand. Mass sterilisation really is the only way to fix this once and for all,” said Niall at the project launch.
“We’ve been working towards this project for months, and I’m so happy to see it in action. Soi Dog Foundation’s vets, rescue officers and staff on the ground are just incredible. The amount of lives saved will be staggering,” he added.
Based on the nearby island of Koh Samui, Niall has gained international notoriety for his work feeding, sterilising and treating street dogs, which he documents online. At the heart of his organisation Happy Doggo is a mission to fix the street dog problem on a global scale through sterilisation and emergency medical care.
This mission is shared with the Phuket-based Soi Dog Foundation, who have been advocating for the welfare of street dogs and cats in Thailand and across Asia for over 20 years.
Alongside rescue, treatment, adoption, education and community outreach initiatives, Soi Dog operates the largest spay/neuter and vaccination programme of its kind in the world, and last year became the first organisation in history to reach one million neutered and vaccinated animals.
“It’s an absolute pleasure to partner with Niall and Happy Doggo to help spread the impact of this critical work even further and wider,” said Soi Dog Foundation CEO Louise Rose.
“The more we join together and share experiences and expertise, the closer we move towards the day we see an end to the suffering of stray animals in Thailand, in Asia and beyond. Ultimately, this is what we’re all working towards,” she added.
Neither Soi Dog Foundation nor Happy Doggo receive any government funding to carry out their work; both depend upon donations from animal lovers around the world who share their passion for improving the lives of homeless animals.
The two organisations look forward to working closely together to make a lasting difference to the lives of street dogs in Thailand, reducing their suffering humanely and effectively.
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