Education: Just as important as the medical work we do

A lot of the projects we engage in result in us being outside of the city areas and moving on to more rural areas where the stray populations are easier to keep tabs on simply because there are less of them. We don't have the resources to focus on everything and just from a scientific point of view these areas are a lot easier to keep tabs on the amount of strays and also to control the population from getting out of the control.

A recent project of ours took us out to a part of Krabi that is almost entirely a rubber farming area and the community is quite small. This has been something we have been working on for multiple months and the people in the community are very receptive of our help.

_{Just so you know, that is stretched out rubber hanging to dry on the racks on the ceiling in the background}

While we are out there we engage with the residents and talk to them (via a translator of course) about the local animal populations. For the most part, the people out here don't really consider the dogs to be pets although they do feed them every now and then. The dogs seem to roam in the search for food and for the most part, they are treated pretty well and are not considered a nuisance. However, we are informed that there is a "quick turnaround" on most of the animals because just like back in the city, the populations quickly get too large and once a year or so a group of puppies will emerge, only to have most of them disappear after a time. We do not know why but this could be due to getting hit by cars, being abandoned by their mothers, or in worse situations being poisoned by land owners.

Sometimes when we offer to take the female dogs for sterilization and vaccination (with the land owner's permission of course) the children get upset and think we are stealing the dogs. Of course we don't want to break a little kid's heart so we explain to them that we are actually taking them to the doctor and only to make them more healthy. Explaining to them that we are also sterilizing them is something we reserve for the older children because I think explaining pregnancy to a 6 year old isn't really something we should be doing. We do, on the other hand, explain to the parents about this objective and they almost always agree that this is a very good thing for us to be doing.

_{The tears and fears all disappear once she understands that we are simply taking her friend to the doctor and will return her afterwards}

I think this is a very important part of the entire process that we do here at Krabi Animal Welfare because in Thailand, as well as other places in the world, the people don't seem to understand that the first step in helping these animals to live better lives is to give them a better chance at life success by limiting the excess in population. A pack of dogs will become a nuisance and even territorial or dangerous if the pack grows too large and this has everything to do with competition over food.

While the kids aren't told everything about what we are doing, we do explain it to their parents and leave it up to the adults if they want to explain the problem that dogs reproducing like crazy presents not just to their community or even just to Thailand, but to the entire world. Their response to us once they understand that we are there to help is really cute and we hope that they remember us and can grow up understanding the importance of looking after stray animals and perhaps even spread this information to their classmates and friends.

We want to appear as helpers of the community, because that is basically what we are. This isn't for us, it is for the animals.

I once again want to encourage everyone out there to adopt and not shop for pets and to also donate your time and money (or both) to your local animal shelter or animal rescue. I can assure you that every little bit is appreciated.

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If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at

http://krabianimalwelfare.org

_{Krabi Animal Welfare is a charity run entirely by volunteers and are a registered non-profit organization in Thailand and the U.K.. We aim to relieve the pain and suffering of dogs and cats within Krabi Province.}

เป็นผู้สนับสนุนรายเดือนหรือบริจาคครั้งเดียวได้ที่:

http://krabianimalwelfare.org

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