PART THREE (Please also check out Part one and two)
Mr Stumpy
November 2006
I’m back in Australia but keeping in frequent contact with goings on at the Soi Dog Foundation via their website and emails. While Mr Stumpy doesn’t have a home in a house yet, he does have a new and better home at the refurbished Livestock Department dog pound near Thalang. In return for an investment of 3,000,000 Baht in construction work and the provision of a full-time vet, the Soi Dog Foundation has been able to move its dogs into decent sized purpose built pens. Plus there is a run for them to exercise in.
Brutus
July 2007
Tiger and Brutus are both adopted. Mr Stumpy hasn’t found a home yet but my sister is sponsoring him and he has a place at the shelter for just as long as it takes.
November 2007
The Livestock Department has informed the Soi Dog Foundation that it now has an adequate budget for it s operations and requires the extra space. In return for its 3,000,000 Baht investment and months of hard work, the Soi Dog Foundation is asked to vacate the premises and find somewhere else for its dogs.
Tiger
March 2008
After a marathon effort, the Soi Dog Foundation moves its dogs into a new shelter, just west of Phuket Airport. This is home number four for Mr Stumpy, who probably hasn’t turned three yet. I don’t know what would have happened if the Foundation couldn’t get the money together to build a new shelter. But they did.
The week before the move, 12 temple dogs come in to the Livestock Department pound from one of several Wats around Phuket that are known for poisoning their dogs. Apparently, the way these ones cower at the back of their pens suggests they haven’t been treated much better than the ones that were poisoned. Fortunately, the Livestock Department agrees to hand them over to the Soi Dog Foundation.
Mr Stumpy’s adoption day
July 2008
Lynne from the Soi Dog Foundation emails me to tell me Spartacus has just died, after having lived several years longer than anyone expected. She asks if there is another dog on their sponsorship list I would like to replace him with. His replacement, Walker, also lives at Wat Srisoonthorn.
An hour later I get another email – a photograph of Mr Stumpy with his proud new owners, who have given him a safe home behind a fence on 3 rai of land.
