Ending the Dog Meat Trade
Despite the craziness of our Indian Ocean sailing adventure aboard Coboat, the crew still made time to engage in some local philanthropy.
Just another testament to the character of my fellow Coboat sailors!
Coboat Generosity
I was planning to do some volunteer work on the Thai island of Phuket once we arrived. But, as you know, our ocean adventure was extended on the Nicobar Islands by 4 days, so that original plan was out the window.
So we lingered in our Indian paradise-prison, my crewmates and I looked around the boat and it became obvious that one thing we had in abundance (beside good cheer!) was food. Maybe not the most delectable, but basics like rice & noodles and coffee & tea.
So on our last day at sea, all the crew voted to donate the remaining food that we had collectively bought and my buddy Matthias and I boxed it up. Surprisingly we had quite a mound!
Donating to Soi Dog
Upon landing in Thailand, we only had a few hours to figure out a worthy nonprofit organization which could benefit from our horde. So I stopped by the marina office and asked if they knew of any local nonprofits that could use the donation of foodstuffs and supplies. (We had to drop the bounty off on the way to the airport, so it had to be located close by.)
They provided several options and after a quick online search and a few phone calls, we all elected to support Soi Dog, an organization helping to improve the welfare of homeless, neglected and abused dogs and cats in Thailand.
Through their work, Soi Dog hopes to better the lives of animals by:
- Humanely reducing the number of unwanted dogs and cats through spaying and neutering.
- Ending the dog meat trade throughout the region. In Vietnam alone, approximately 5 million dogs are slaughtered each year for human consumption.
- Responding to animal welfare disasters and emergencies.
To date, Soi Dog has:
- Sterilized more than 84,000 dogs and cats.
- Treated thousands of abused and neglected street dogs and cats by providing emergency and ongoing veterinary treatment.
- Running a shelter and re-homing center for more than 400 dogs that have been abandoned or abused and subjected to sometimes terrible cruelty.
- Feeding hundreds of dogs and cats who live in temples, who have been rescued from the dog meat trade.
How you can help too!
So, you might be wondering how our food donation benefitted the animal shelter… Well, Soi Dog is run by many volunteers, including veterinarians. Our extra food was donated to the help defer the cost of board for the volunteers that were dedicating their spare time (sometimes months) to helping out our animal brethren.
If you’re interested lending a hand too, you can:
- Become a sponsor of a dog or cat
- Make a reoccurring or one-time monetary donation
- Donate veterinary supplies
Soi Dog is a registered charitable organization in Thailand, the U.S., Australia, the UK, France and Holland, so your donation will receive the tax benefits associated with your country.
Help out a stray dog or kitty today!
Tags: Coboat, donation, SoiDog, Thailand
This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2015 and is filed under Adventure Philanthropists.