Disabled dogs run outside for their daily walk at rescue shelter in Thailand opened by Swedish entrepreneur
Disabled dogs run outside for their daily walk at rescue shelter in Thailand opened by Swedish entrepreneur
This is the adorable moment dozens of disabled dogs ran outside for their daily walk at an animal rescue shelter.
Staff at the the Man That Rescues Dogs charity jog alongside the energetic dogs every day around the compound in Chonburi province, Thailand.
They even take them to nearby streams so the pooches can cool off in the hot temperatures, which regularly pass 30 degrees Celsius, or 86 degrees Fahrenheit.
Most of the dogs being taken care of at the animal home have lost limbs from road accidents before they were rescued from the streets.
The shelter then provides them with custom wheelchairs so they can run freely again.
The organisation spends around $1,300 per day to care for more than 600 dogs in the shelter and 350 more they feed in the streets.
However, they are now struggling to keep up with the costs due to the reduction in the number of tourist visiting the country during the pandemic.
Founder Michael Baines, 53, from Sweden, said he started caring after Thai strays after he moved to the country 19 years ago.
He said: "It actually started in 2011 when I rescued one dog that turned up behind my restaurant.
It was in very bad shape.
I started to feed the dog and took it to a clinic that I trust.
"After that, I started to feed the stray dogs and in 2017 I took over this place.
We have 600 dogs here now and have 350 on the streets.
"We feed them on the streets.
We have a route that come to for many years.
We feed them everyday and make sure they are healthy.
We also spay and neuter them.
"If we’re taking a sick dog, it depends on where they live in to start with.
If they live in a place where we consider as a safe place, then we let them back.
If we consider it dangerous like full of traffic, or maybe there’s some evil people, then we decide to keep them here.
"Each day it costs us 40,000 Baht, or 1.2 million Baht per month but that includes almost 30 staff.
We have two veterinarians, two construction workers, a free-of-charge clinic, food, medication, drugs, and transportation." However, Michael added that donations have dropped by 40 per cent since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
He said: "That’s almost one year now.
It’s been very hard, very tough.
Also, we had lost a lot of visitors and volunteers.’ Michael is now appealing for more donations so they can keep the foundation running.
Michael added: "If you also want to help with food, rice, or bedsheets, leashes, or collars they can come also.
Everything is fine." People can donate to the rescue shelter through the charity’s website, https://tmtrd.org/.