Dog smugglers jailed and fined after 1,200 dogs die

The Nakhon Phanom Provincial Court yesterday sen?tenced five members of a dog-smuggling gang to eight months and 10 days in prison each and fines ranging from Bt12,000 to Bt22,400, before halving the punishments because the men made useful confessions.

The court seized four six-wheel trucks and 200 cages used in the crime.

Only 770 of the 2,000 dogs found in Nakhon Phanom on August 11 when the smugglers were caught taking them to Vietnam survived. The rest suc?cumbed to injuries and diseases caused by being crammed into cages. The surviving dogs are housed at the Nakhon Phanom Animal Quarantine Centre.

The court read verdicts yes?terday on four charges filed against the smugglers: trading dogs without permission; trans?porting dogs without permis?sion; cruelty against animals; and possessing dogs not vacci?nated by a veterinarian. After the charges were read, the defendants pleaded guilty, and the court went on to read the verdicts.

In addition to jail for eight months and 10 days, Montree Phanklang and Vietnamese man Tran Wan Tan were fined Bt22,400 each; Noppadol Chaiwangraj was fined Bt18,000; Weerawat Sawasdi was fined Bt12,000; and Anusorn Bupphasiri was fined Bt16,000.

The court said the defen?dants conducted an illicit trade and transport of the animals with cruelty, for their own ben?efit, without regard to the impact on society. Their claims of having families to support were not sufficient for the court to suspend their jail terms.

Quarantine centre chief Chusak Pongpanich said the public prosecutor didn't ask the court to make a ruling on the impounded dogs, so they would become the responsibility of provincial livestock develop?ment authorities.