Teaming up with a larger organization for a mobile clinic
There was a time when there was no Krabi Animal Welfare in Krabi. We got our start and our inspiration by two organizations, one that operates out of Phuket and one that operates out of Koh Lanta called Lanta Animal Welfare or "LAW." The Lanta operations helped us a lot when we were first getting our feet wet and that is a big part of the reason why it is so great to work together with them whenever we can.
They have more equipment, volunteers, and money than we do, but we come together towards a common goal with this mobile clinic over the last week.
Our major focus was on sterilization, as it always is; but we also reached out to the community to let them know that they can bring by any pets that they have for routine medical care and checkups... all at no cost to them.
We had quite a good turnout for this and there were even some people that needed help in transporting their dog because they don't have a vehicle. We helped as much as we could with our Thai and foreigner volunteers and it was a good several days of getting the community to know that animal health care is important and I think we made a real impact on letting people know the importance of sterilization in especially dogs and cats.
Most of the dogs were in pretty good shape and almost all of them were friendly, but of course being in a kennel and surrounded by other dogs in the same situation can have a lot of dogs on edge, so we had to be very careful. The last thing we want is for the dog to panic and run off into the local area perhaps far from where it calls home.
In the chats we had with people we found out from the people that live here that they have noticed a dramatic downturn in the amount of strays wandering about over the past 5 years or so and this is a very very good thing. This means that we are having an impact and perhaps for the permanent good. This doesn't mean we can just pack up shop and quit though, there is no actual end to this job because just a few exceptions can quickly become the norm over a relatively short amount of time.
This event wasn't without its small annoyances though as several people with very nice cars (one was a Mercedes) pulled up for the free health care even though they definitely could have afforded to pay for it. We have a policy though: We never question anyone nor do we attempt to shame them for taking advantage, which this one person in particular was definitely doing.
We hope that they will donate to our cause and simply attempt to appeal to their good side, if they have one.
We even had a local monk turn up to help out a bit for a few hours and this is always a nice touch because it lets the community know that we are definitely one of them and we only have their best interest at heart.
Many dogs and cats were sterilized and thankfully we didn't find any major health problems either. There were a few dogs with mange but this is easily treated and we took the time to teach the owners about this as well and how cheap it is and how they can get it in the future should the problem return after 4 months or so.
All in all it was a great success and for me it was a learning experience as well to be working alongside people with more experience in this field than i have. I know that we will look forward to working with Lanta Animal Welfare again in the future!
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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