by Alyce Beard (June 2011)
Can you imagine going to a country and seeing helpless, hungry dogs wondering the streets? Some may have owners that let them wonder around aimlessly but they are rarely seen socialising with their ‘pets.’ Other street dogs may have nowhere to go, no one to feed them, no one to love them and no one to care for them. This is the image Gill Dalley faced daily when visiting the streets of Thailand. She would see one dog here cowering under a table, another begging for food around the corner and then maybe even one sunning himself on the side of a busy road. She found some in dumpsters, on the beach and in overcrowded temples. Sometimes they may be friendly as they know she may harbour food for them and they are desperately hungry. They may also want affection in the form of a kind tourist’s hand. However sometimes they are viscous, anxious for food and territorial of their patch of pavement. Gill almost lost her life trying to help them.
They are called Soi dogs, Soi meaning street or alley. The overpopulation problem can be caused by the dominant religion in Thailand. The Muslim religion does not believe in de-sexing their dogs and now there is a huge problem on the streets of Thailand with around 30 000 dogs in Phuket alone. Although Temples are safe havens for some soi dogs and the monks administer general care. There is sometimes up to thirty dogs in a single temple.
Gill and her husband John retired from the UK, to their favourite holiday destination of Thailand in 2003. They in visioned relaxing on the beaches, exploring the islands, shopping at local markets and above all retiring. However the beautiful paradise quickly turned into something sinister.
Retiring couldn’t seem further from their objective now. When first arriving the lively couple decided to do something that would help the community as John says they were still ‘relatively young.’ They first intended to teach English and work in education to help the poor community in Phuket but the couple soon discovered that virtually nothing was being done to help the stray dogs in Thailand. They decided to focus on that, as they both had a love for animals.
Gill, John and a Dutch lady, Margot, started up the Soi Dog Foundation soon after arriving in Thailand. The trio’s mission was to contribute to solving the plight of the street dogs as well as feral cats in Thailand. They were to focus mainly on sterilising the street dogs to try and stop the overpopulation on the streets. The small clinic the foundation set up in the city soon became inundated with dogs so they decided they needed a shelter. They started renting some land and built a shelter and a vet clinic to assist in meeting their goals which also included vaccinating dogs. They now own half the land where the shelter is and have over 250 dogs that are waiting to be re-homed, sometimes even internationally. Although around 10% of their dogs will have to stay at the shelter for the rest of their lives as they were so badly mistreated by people that they cannot be re-homed. The shelter is located in Phuket but Soi Dog also runs a mobile vet clinic which they set up at schools where they educate the community and sterilise the local dogs. The education program intents to change the attitudes of the next generation in regards to responsible pet ownership. Gill tells the young students that animals need the same treatment as they do so hopefully the children will relate.
It was a demanding job, both physically and mentally for all parties involved, with long hours spent catching dogs and returning them and caring for the sick or injured. However it was soon to come to a halt within just a year after the foundation had been running. A terrible incident was about to occur that could jeopardise not just the foundation but someone’s life. Gill, John and Margot were working at a mobile clinic set up at a school in September 2004. Everyone was kept busy with the high demand of sterilising hundreds of dogs in a single day. Gill was out catching dogs to be brought back to the clinic when she spotted one asleep nearby. She used a blow dart to sedate the large dog as she knew she could not carry it otherwise. After the dog was startled by the blow dart to her thigh, she skidded out into a flooded buffalo field. Gill knew the sedative would settle in soon and the dog could drown. She did not want to have the dog’s death on her conscious when she knew she was perfectly capable of saving it, so without hesitating she went straight in after her. The water was 18 inches deep and up to her knees. It was murky brown and had a strong odour. Gill could see the dog starting to sway as the sedative started to kick in. She got to the dog just before the poor thing’s head was about to go under the water. Gill then struggled to carry the 20kg dog back to her truck and was exhausted when she finally reached it. Once recovered Gill drove the dog to the clinic where volunteer vets sterilised and vaccinated her. The big dog was returned home as soon as she regained consciousness.
The days following continued as normal until Gill began to feel unwell. She at first, selflessly, put it down to the flu and no-one was to worry. Although it was within another two days that it became severely worse. John saw his wife in utter agony and immediately drove her to the closest hospital. Gill explains it as ‘excruciating pain’ and she’d ‘never felt anything like it.’ At the hospital she was placed on a table in the emergency room and as she lay in pain John says they ‘watched her legs turn blue.’ She doesn’t remember anything else for the next four weeks.
An anxious John was by her side every minute waiting for signs of a positive recovery. Gill spent four days in intensive care in Phuket and was then flown to Bangkok for further treatment. John was told by Gill’s doctors that she had ‘at best’ a one in twenty chance of survival. They also told him it was likely that she was to lose both her arms and both her legs if she was to survive. A devastated John also had to watch his wife get resuscitated more than once. Fortunately Gill lost only her legs and is grateful to be both alive and with both her arms. A recovering Gill flew back home on the 22nd of December 2004 as she was determined to cook Christmas dinner for her family and friends.
Gill had been infected with a rare bacteria and as a result she had gone into septic shock where the blood from her arms and legs had rushed to try and save her vital organs. The infection was a type of septicaemia or gangrene which is a water-soil based bacteria which does not need a cut to enter the body. It can enter through your pores or toe nails. Gill was also suffering from a broken rib and the emotional trauma of losing her father that same year. However she was aware of the mental and physical battle awaiting her, she said she ‘cried for about five minutes’ and then concentrated on getting back to work.
Then another blow in Gill and John’s paradise. It was in the form of a deadly tsunami. Gill’s close friend Leonie worked for Soi Dogs and focused on the south of Phuket. She called John at the hospital every day whilst Gill was there. She was a loyal, loving friend and a kind hearted person. Leonie owned a house on Kao Lak beach. She heard about the tsunami and quickly went to warn the tenants of her house. They survived because of Leonie’s determination to save them but unfortunately she didn’t.
Gill was devastated when she heard about her friend’s death. She had been so supportive of Gill and there was now nothing Gill could do to help her. However Gill has a determined attitude and she tried to think positively about the situation. Gill organised herself and John to head down to Kao Lak the next day to help out anyway they could. Gill was still in a wheelchair waiting for prosthetic legs but that did not stop her from helping the locals. She spent her time in Kao Lak counselling the injured survivors in the local hospital. John said he spent his time ‘wrapping up bodies.’
Gill and John also focused on the soi dogs of Kao Lak and surrounding devastated areas during this time. The tsunami effected many street dogs, as their main food source was gone. This was in the form of washed away restaurants which used to leave scraps for the hungry dogs. The world stepped in to help Thailand during this devastating natural disaster. Luckily for Soi Dogs this meant they received a grant and 50 volunteer vets. This enabled Gill and John to continue their work as it was put on hold during Gill’s recovery.
Today Gill has a set of new prosthetic legs and even though she spent nine painstaking months learning to walk again she continues to stay focused on helping the unwanted dogs of Thailand. The Soi Dog Foundation has sterilised a whopping 32 000 dogs since the foundation started eight years ago. The foundation also works on about 50 new cases every day. It is also thanks to the foundation vaccinating dogs against rabies that Phuket is now a rabies free province of Thailand. They also continue to save dogs from horrific conditions. It is common for Gill and John to come across poisoned dogs, puppies in plastic bags in the middle of the road and also dogs with machete wounds to the head. Their main focus is to see no street dogs in Thailand.
Also Gill was awarded the Asian of the year award in 2009 for her outstanding work with soi dogs. She was the first non-Asian to be nominated.
The Soi Dog Foundation is a registered charity in many countries around the world including Australia. Debbie Mole the Australian Representative for the Soi Dog Foundation says John and Gill are ‘amazing people.’ Debbie helps raise funds for the Soi Dog foundation in Australia with fundraisers such as movie and quiz nights as well as collection boxes in Thai restaurants, vets and pet shops. Unfortunately due to Australia’s strict laws it is extremely difficult for dogs to be re-homed into Australia. The process would take just under a year of quarantine for the dog and could cost up to $5000. Luckily many dogs have been re-homed into the United States, Denmark, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden and local Phuket.
A phrase spoken by Mahatma Gandhi is written on the Soi Dog website, it reads ‘The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.’
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