CINDY & DEREK'S STORY... read our volunteer's first hand account of their rescue mission to "Dogs Island" where 100 dogs are stranded on a bridge & adjoining island. Volunteer boats arrive every day to feed & spend time with these dogs. This is a 4 hour journey from Bangkok on the back of a truck. This is heart wrenching work for all the people involved. We so want to rescue these dogs, but life is never that simple. Read the story & understand the difficulties we face.
We set of at 8.00am for the pickup point on Rama2. The truck was due to arrive at 9.00am but turned up about 9.30. It was a large open truck with a crane, on the back was a large aluminium flat bottom boat. The boat contained dog crates filled with life jackets. By the time the truck arrived there were about 25 young Thai's waiting to join the rescue effort. Most were students, mainly men with 6 young girls, we all found a spot on the truck, either sitting on the dog crates or round the side of the boat.
We headed of towards ------- in the morning traffic, the seat on the edge of the boat soon became very uncomfortable. Every bump in the road sent a jaring sensation through the truck which seemed to have little in the way of suspension. It was mid morning & the sun was by now beating down on us, making the journey just that bit less enjoyable.
After about 1 hour we came to the first section of flooded road, the traffic from this point slowed right down, which did cut the jaring from the bumps considerably. The water in some places was almost too deep for 4 wheel drives, however looking down the side streets, people could be seen wading almost chest deep in water. Many people had taken to boats which were for sale along the street. We stopped several times to give people a lift, most vehicles had done the same. I saw a large crane with quite a load of people standing on the truck & clinging to the jib of the crane. The further we went the lighter the traffic, some trucks were handing out drinking water & food parcels it was all quite civilised.
On the last section of road there was very few vehicles, we stopped at the entrance to "Dog Island" & unloaded our boat using the truck's crane. The road at this point had knee deep water which was flowing very fast making things just that more difficult. Another boat arrived to take some of us as we couldn't all fit in one boat. Everyone doned life jackets, the Thai Army provided 4 men to help, plus we picked up a guide to point the way to the island. It had taken 4 hours to get to this point.
It was an eery feeling entering the extensive temple grounds which cover many hundreds of acres, it was a huge lake now with trees sicking out of the water. The trip took about 20 minutes winding our way through the trees & past buildings with only the roofs above water. The first sign of "Dog Island" was the large arched bridge that usually takes the road over a small river. Standing on the bridge at the waters edge were about 30 dogs, as we got closer some started to swim out to meet us. We would be the first humans they had seen for 24 hours & if you ever doubted the bond between dogs & humans, the relief on their faces was proof it exists.
On arrival everyone set about their alloted task & the boats were readied for the first rescue trip. Some people continued the work on the floating bridge to connect what was left of "Dog Island" to the bridge. Others handed out food, while still more cleaned up dog poo & checked to see all the dogs were OK.
The first rescue boat arrived back with about 10 very scared looking dogs. At first they wouldn't get out of the crate, some where tempted out by food, others had to be rolled out. These dogs are very frightened and will bite if you go too near. Once out of the crate they were fed as most were very hungry, some soon fell asleep with exhaustion.
We went out on the next rescue run to see where these dogs were being collected from. The boat circled around vine covered trees looking for dogs hanging on to the vines in sheer exhaustion. When we spotted a dog, 3 men jumped into the water, they disappeared under as it was over 2 meters deep. On surfacing they surrounded the tree then started to move into position around the dog. The dog started to panic and tried to get away from them, but he was so tangled in the vines he couldn't break free. The boat pulled along side and a large net on a pole was used to scoop up the dog. At this the dog started biting the net & pole trying to get away. The men had to swim in & pull away the vines so the dog could be lifted into the boat. He was put into the cage where he lay motionless. not realising he was finally safe.
Each rescue was different some dogs broke free and swam into open water making it easy to lasoo & net them, others went deeper into the tree cover making it very hard to reach them. After about 1 hour we had 9 dogs & headed back to the bridge & relative safety. Its hard to know how long these dogs have been in the water, they are very hungry & seem quite traumatized by the experience.
There were all kinds of dogs on the bridge from a large pitbull to young puppies. A small & very thin black dog found Cindy & followed her everywhere, at one point I found her just holding the dogs head in her hand while it slept. Another small dog just lay on my camera bag & went to sleep. The dog are all confused they just stare around them as if they can't believe this is happening.
We only had 4 hours to carry out the rescues, so no time to waste, with our 2 boats we did 8 rescue trips, a total of 48 dogs. That brought the number of dogs on the bridge/island to about 110. The woman who looks after them arrived with more food, she has been feeding them everyday but is unable to rescue them, as she does not have the strength to even lift them into her small boat. She brought large bags of raw meat, which she dropped all over the bridge so the dogs wouldn't fight over it. She usually cooks the meat for them but her kitchen is now flooded.
It was getting dusk, time for us to leave, the dogs would remain on the bridge as no place has been found to take them, sad but true. All rescue shelters are full, vet clinics are full, many dogs have been sent up country. We are desperatly trying to fix this problem, some dogs need medical help, we may have to bring the vets to them. When the boats prepared to depart the dogs followed us into the water, as the the boats pulled away they started to howl, a sound I will never forget. To leave those dogs on that bridge is one of the hardest things I have had to do, it felt like abandonment.
We are doing our best in a city that is flooded, many area have been evacuated & electricity has been turned off. All freeways have cars parked along both side to keep them out of the flood & residents are pouring into the dry areas seeking refuge. Hard to get around, even taxis won't take you to many places "Sorry Flooded" & some area's are only accessable by trucks. Its against this background that many people are working hard to save stranded animals. At one dog shelter Friday I saw a one legged monkey with his best friend a black & white rabbit, that shelter is now flooded. Rescuing animals cost money, we have many volunteers but we need to hire boats & trucks, provide fuel, life jackets, animal crates, rescue equipment, water & food for animals & volunteers. We have also to pay medical expenses for volunteers that have been bitten rescuing dogs.
It doesn't matter if you can't come & help but you can DONATE so we can send out more recue missions & give all Bangkok's animals a fighting chance.
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