SOI DOG FOUNDATION, THAILAND

Street dog rescue at Thailand's Soi Dog Foundation

Outside Phuket, Justin Mott documents Soi Dog Foundation Thailand, where rescued dogs and cats are pulled from the streets and meat trade, then healed and rehomed around the world.

An abandoned puppy found on the streets of Phuket is brought into the foundation in sterilization by a vacationing German couple.

Caretaker Win Zaw 37, pets one of the dogs he looks after at the Soi Dog Foundation.

Soi Dog responds to numerous calls and emails daily. Emergencies such as road traffic accidents, poisonings, serious wounds and cruelty cases receive priority and are picked up as soon as possible.

Curtis Brown enters the kennel to take one of the dogs out for behavior training. In all his years working with troubled and distressed dogs, Brown says he’s only been bitten once.

Win Zaw 37, has worked at Soi Dog since 2016 and his job as a caretakers is to look after the dog’s well-being. He has an extreme passion for his job and every time he enters the shelter, the dogs shower him with love.

Curtis Brown, Behaviour and Enrichment Manager at Soi Dog check on a group of blind dogs in their kennel.

Brown visits one of the most troubled dogs in the recovery area of the hospital just to give him some nurture. The dogs barked ferociously at people passing by but when Brown entered the kennel the dog waged his tail and licked his hand.

Brown states that he found his calling caring for dogs at a troubled time in his life and now couldn’t see doing any other line of work.

Using a fake hand, Brown tests how a dog will react to being touched while he is eating his food.

Aiw Wongla, 26, and her assistant Marlen Krieger train with Madahva(right) receiving laser treatment and Coachella (left) on the treadmill recovering from hip surgery.

A small dog recovers in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

Dogs eagerly await as vacationing volunteers arrive at the shelter to walk them.

Curtis Brown visits dog in the recovery area of the hospital to give them so nurture and care. Here, Brown visit Coachella recovering from recent hip surgery.

Curtis Brown takes one the dogs he trains for behaviorial troubles out and encourage him to play and interact with him.

Aiw Wongla, 26, started working in the Physiotherapy department at Soi Dog in 2016. She read their mission statement and was very impressed. She says “I didn’t know we have such an organization in Thailand. I always loved the street dogs in my hometown and already at a young age I started playing and caring for them.”

Talking about the struggles of her job, Marlen says “If we work a long time with an animal but it simply won’t respond to the therapy due to other health reasons and we have no other chance to say goodbye to this animal. It breaks my heart every single time and even though we know it’s not our fault it sometimes feels like failure. And those animals are our friends. We build up such a strong relationship with them, they are not simply Street dogs/cats they truly are our friends.”

Kamalo, receives hydrotherapy training with the physiotherapy unit. She was originally brought to the center after being found dumped in a construction site without use of her hind legs. She has gone through two leg surgeries and trains daily but has a long way to go for recovery.

The foundation was founded in 2005 by British couple John and Gill Dalley. Gill passed away in 2017 from cancer but her spirit is still present at the foundation. A large statue of her sits next to their veterinarian hospital. As of 2019 John remains fully involved in Soi Dog Foundation, honoring his commitment to Gill and the street dogs.

A German tourist hand feeds milk to a puppy he found abandoned at a temple in Phuket, Thailand. He brought the puppy to Soi Dog for sterilization.

Aiw Wongla, 26, applies laser acupuncture treatment on Madahva, a dog brought to the foundation after being found dumped in a construction site without use of her hind legs.

A dog suffering from severe a skin disease is treated in the veterinarian hospital.

Curtis Brown , Behaviour and Enrichment Manager at Soi Dog Foundation. Brown and his team look after the most troubled dogs, mostly resulting from human cruelty, on a daily basis. He tests their behaviors, builds trust, and tries to prepare them for adoption.

Veterinarian nurse, Aiw Wongla, 26, cuddles in the kennel of Madahva. Madahva was brought in by Soi Dog’s community outreach program and couldn’t stand up or walk on her own due to neurological problems caused by distemper.
Through the use a balance board to teach her body awareness as well as some laser acupuncture treatment she can now walk and even run.

Aiw Wongla(right), 26, and her assistant Marlen Krieger(left), 24, train in the hydrotherapy tank with Jacosta, a dog paralyzed in both hind legs.

Dogs have their medication distributed, bandages changed, and their general health check on in the intensive care unit.

Veterinarians clean the wound of a street dog before operating on him after he suffered a sever injury to his back thought to be inflicted by a machete.

Curtis Brown tests a dogs behavior while he hand feeds him snacks in his kennel.

When asked about what she would want people to know about street dogs, Aiw Wongla, 26, veterinarian nurse says “all dogs need love and affection. If you see a street dog that seems aggressive, keep in mind that this dog most likely had horrible experiences with humans. You can still help that dog by feeding it every day, this is also a way of showing love.”

Aiw Wongla(left), 26, and her assistant Marlen Krieger(right), 24, make up the physiotherapy unit at the Soi Dog Foundation in Phuket, Thailand.
Daily they train with dogs doing hydrotherapy, massage, acupuncture, and laser treatment. They both state that helping a dog walk again is the rewarding part of their job.

Cards are assigned at each kennel of the recovery unit of the hospital to let the caretakers know of each dogs specific needs.

Veterinarians perform emergency surgery on a street dog brought in with large gaping wound thought to be inflicted by a person with a machete.

A street dog is brought into the vet hospital after suffering from a horrible wound to his body thought to be inflicted by a human with a machete. The cut went all the way down to the spine but after emergency surgery he is thought to make a full physical recovery. He will also be treated by the behavior team for his emotional trauma.

Curtis Brown takes one of the dogs he trains on a daily basis through a series of behavioural tests.

Aiw Wongla, 26, encourages Fanumpa in using her wheelchair during their training session.

Marlen Krieger, 24, started as a volunteer and eventually joined the staff full-time in the physiotherapy department. Here she is scene training with Fanumpa, a street dog that came to Soi Dog at the age of 3 months paralyzed on both hind legs. Though training with the physiotherapy team he can now race around in his wheelchair.

Aiw Wongla(left), 26, and her assistant Marlen Krieger(right), 24, carry Fanumpa out to practice using her wheelchair.

The mission statement for the Soi Dog Foundation reads “To improve the welfare of dogs and cats in Asia, resulting in better lives for both the animal and human communities, to create a society without homeless animals, and to ultimately end animal cruelty.”

Inside Soi Dog Foundation in Thailand

This chapter of Kindred Guardians follows the Soi Dog Foundation, tucked into a village near a rubber plantation outside Phuket, Thailand. John and Gill Dalley started it in 2003. Gill died in 2017, and a statue of her now stands beside the veterinary hospital; John still runs the mission they built together.

Rescue, treat, rehome

Soi Dog is home to roughly 800 dogs and 200 cats. Many arrive hurt: struck by traffic, harmed by people, sick from neglect, or unable to walk without months of physiotherapy. A full-time team of veterinarians, physiotherapists, caretakers, and behaviourists gets them well enough to be adopted, in Thailand and abroad.

Every year the foundation carries out tens of thousands of sterilisations and vaccinations across Bangkok and the provinces, work that has all but ended the dog meat trade inside Thailand.

A wider fight

The foundation still pushes to end the dog meat trade across Asia, from Vietnam to South Korea. Much of that work runs on volunteers, travellers who come to walk the dogs for a week and end up staying for good.

This story is part of my ongoing Kindred Guardians project.