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Published on February 23, 2008

Just recently, I've received e-mails and phone calls from dog-lovers asking me what they can do to help the strays they've seen on golf courses. The people who have e-mailed me ask to remain anonymous and request that I don't name the golf courses involved.

According to these people, the strays on the golf courses come from villages nearby or are brought in by construction workers. When the work is finished, the workers move on, leaving the dogs behind. Then the dogs are fed by the caddies or by house owners from the local estate. Unlucky dogs search for scraps in rubbish bins.

Because few of the dogs are neutered, the number increases until the owner of the estate/golf course orders the guards to get rid of them.

There have been reports of dogs being shot or clubbed to death, but more recently the order has been carried out by poisoning. The poison of choice is strychnine because it's cheap and easy to administer.

For less than Bt5, a dog ingesting this poison will die - after at least 30 minutes of pain and torment as the poison acts on the body.

I don't think that the property owners lack compassion. They do, however, see their property as a business, one that must maintain an image of pristine serenity. For them, dogs are vermin, spoiling this image. Their solution is to remove them the way you would remove cockroaches or rats from your property.

What other choices do they have? If they researched their employees properly, they would know where the dogs came from originally. They could then take steps to monitor what comes on to their property, and what leaves.

Dealing with the dogs already on the property is much more of a problem. Check out any wat, and you'll see that it's already full of abandoned dogs. If the monks don't take care of them, the animals wander about waiting for hand-outs from funeral mourners.

There are no city shelters where the owners could take the dogs. The BMA centres throughout the city are not set up to handle large numbers of unhealthy, untrained strays. The centres don't have much of a budget for food and medication anyway.

As for other places, every dog-rescuer I know is no longer able to take in the strays - their homes (and the other houses they've rented for the purpose) are already full.

One of the people who e-mailed me mentioned a lady who will take any dog in trouble, but, although she loves the dogs she saves, she lives in a small shack and must keep the animals in tiny cages.

Myself, the only solution I see is to close down a golf course or two and turn them into huge dog shelters, proper ones with adequate budgets and staffed with knowledgeable, caring people. Yes, I know. No golf-course owner would ever agree. Compassion does not extend that far.

Questions about your pets?

Fax (02) 751 4446 or e-mail laurie@nationgroup.com.

By Laurie rosenthal  

The Nation