Helping monks helping animals
A common thing for people to do when they have unwanted pets is for them to drop them off at local temples where the monks will now look after the dogs and cats as best they can. In exchange the person who is dropping off the animal is meant to financially support the temple for the life of the animals. Whether or not this is actually done by these people is unknown but if they actually believe in the tenets of the faith they probably should because of karma and all that.
However, during the past 6 months the people of Thailand have been feeling the financial pinch by an economy shut down just like the rest of the world. This is particularly noticeable in Krabi where a great deal of the local economy is tourism-based and now there is very little domestic tourism and no international tourism. The few businesses that remain open now engage in a price war that all but assures that no one is actually making any money.
This trickles down all the way to the temples, who now see a great deal of their financing drying up and therefore they are unable in many situations to afford food for the hungry dogs and cats that they house.
We work together with the Po Riang Temple in Krabi to help them during these times when the local human population is struggling and therefore is unable to donate food for the animals there.
Much of this food is donated to us in the first place and we are eternally grateful to the local pet shops that have contributed to our food stores, it is truly appreciated! The chewy treats were particularly popular as these street dogs probably rarely receive such an extravagance.
We did notice while we were visiting that there are a great many pups wandering around as well which means unfortunately that the temple population is breeding and therefore the problems are only going to get worse. We are currently working with local veterinarians to see if we can get a special rate to treat this small population with sterilization to sort this situation out before it spirals out of control.
Needless to say that we have quickly become quite popular with the local temple dog population and one of the monks said that our arrival is like "when children hear the approaching ice cream motorbikes." This was clear as it appears they they now recognize our truck and all run towards us. The amount of love we can feel from these kind souls is a pretty impressive sight. Even though I am well aware of the fact that they are looking forward to the snacks far more than the belly rubs, I'll take what i can get.
If you would like to see how you can help out, or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
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