Chon Buri dog shelter has 40% drop in donations during pandemic

A shelter for stray dogs in Chon Buri not only nurses injured and sick street dogs back to health, it also provides more than 2 dozen dogs with special wheelchairs. Every day the dogs are taken for a walk along a dirt path. With the wheels serving as their hind legs, the dogs can freely walk along a dirt path. They can even run so fast that some of the humans can’t catch up.

But with Thailand now in an economic downturn due to the pandemic and far less tourists in Chon Buri, the shelter, which is run by The Man That Rescues Dogs foundation, has had a 40% drop in donations. The number of visitors has also sharply declined. The shelter’s sponsorship coordinator Christopher Chidichimo says both donations and visitors are very important for maintaining the shelter.

“The donations are very important, and the volunteers and visitors are equally important, because they come and spread our message.”

The foundation The Man That Rescues Dogs was started by Swedish entrepreneur Michael J. Baines who moved to Chon Buri in 2002. After seeing many dogs on the streets in Chon Buri in poor conditions, Michael decided to start caring for them.

The shelter now spends more than $1,300 USD per day to care for more than 600 dogs and then to feed another 350 dogs that live on the streets. Since the pandemic, the shelter has been short on funds and was forced to cut its monthly campaign to spay and neuter strays.

The future is uncertain. For now, the shelter is still looking after paralysed and disabled dogs, providing them with wheelchairs and physiotherapy sessions.

To donate or adopt a dog, go to https://tmtrd.org.

SOURCE: Reuters