Exports from Thailand to Vietnam have risen to 30,000 dogs per month.

As the Chinese New Year Festival (normally celebrated in February) approaches, yellow dogs were the most sought after and most expensive.  The Vietnamese believe that eating yellow dog meat will bring them good luck. This belief has sent the price up to Bt4,500 per dog.

A former dog-meat seller in Nakhon Phanom, who asked not to be named, said the dog-meat trade in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam was supplied mainly by a group of wholesalers at Ban Tha Rae village in Sakon Nakhon and four groups of retailers in Mukdahan province.

The Mukdahan retailers were linked to the Ban Tha Rae wholesalers through a woman named Daeng who ran a dog-meat business as a cooperative.

Most dogs sold at Ban Tha Rae are mainly brought from Lop Buri, Ratchaburi, and Prachin Buri. However, not many dogs come from Bangkok due to the large number of dog lovers there.

The Ban Tha Rae wholesalers set the wholesale price at Bt250 per dog while the retail price was Bt350.

The price rises dramatically once they cross the Mekong River, the former dog-seller said,  Laotian traders buy dogs for Bt600 each in Thailand and then sell them on the Laos side for Bt1,300.

The price goes even higher when the dogs reach Vietnam, at about Bt2,000 for a normal-coloured dog while it is about Bt3,500 for a black dog.

Meanwhile, Border Patrol Police commander Lt-Colonel Suwit Sangkamanee admitted that it was difficult to arrest dog smugglers because many had valid dog rearing permits and transportation licences and the required vaccination certificates. He said the dog-meat trade route begins in Nakhon Phanom's Ban Phaeng and Tha Uthen districts, which leads to restaurants in north Vietnam.

Chusak Pongpanich, Nakhon Phanom's animal quarantine station chief, said about 400 dogs seized from smugglers were being held at animal quarantine stations in Nakhon Phanom, Nong Khai and Mukdahan.