Mae’s RESCUE STORY
Hi. My name is “Mae” and I was found alone when I was about 4 weeks old, in the middle of a busy shopping plaza, in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand. Everyone was ignoring me and a bigger dog had just attacked me. I was so scared. I was covered in fleas, sick and weak from blood parasites and was starving – I was not long for this world. My future wasn’t looking too good until a very kind woman saw me and stopped. She didn’t turn a blind eye, but wrapped me up and took me home and contacted Hand to Paw – a small rescue in rural Mae Rim, Thailand that looks after temple dogs. Although I was not a temple dog, they said they would help with my medical care and help to find me a forever home one day if this kind woman would agree to foster me…and she did!
Although it took several months I grew up to be a beautiful, strong and healthy girl. My new doggie brothers Paulo & Howie helped to socialize me and taught me how to be a puppy again. I soon moved on to a new foster home where my new foster mama was home all day, had 2 kids to play with, a big house and yard to run and play and another new brother-dog “Catmu” to spend my days with. He was also a rescue dog – so he taught me how to be a family pet! I can’t believe how fortunate I was – in 8 months I have come a long way!
My new foster family has fallen in love with me, but travel to different countries to live, so told me it would be better for me to find a home to call my own. I never knew it would be in America! What an adventure for a once abandoned puppy from Thailand!
They will be so impressed with me – I am such a love bug I am told. I love to be right in the center of the family attention – sleeping with the children, helping with homework, playing in the yard, receiving belly rubs and doing some small tricks to amuse them! I am obedient and sweet.
I am current on vaccinations, spayed and micro-chipped.
If you are interested in adopting me please fill out the adoption application and contact Dawn at 414-426-4148 or at info@istreetdog.com
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Although the Thailand Dog meat trade Is almost eradicated in Thailand now thanks to the heroic efforts of the Soi Dog Foundation (SDF) and many other grass root activists; there are thousands of homeless street dogs that wander the streets. The majority will die before the age of 3 and only 1 in 25 puppies will make it to adult hood. The Thai government does not actively spay and neuter or vaccinate the street dog population. Many rescue groups such as the SDF participate in spay/neuter and release programs. The average Thai person deems the street dogs un-adoptable and will buy a dog from a pet shop despite the abidance of wonderful street dogs.
Prior to 2013 the dog meat trade flourished for many decades with the government turning a blind eye. It has been said that certain government officials received kickbacks from the dog meat smugglers and that the industry generated over $6 million dollars a year. The dog meat smugglers are evil men who will resort to violence if needed to snatch a dog and they are indiscriminate in to which dogs they take. In fact, 25% of DMT rescues have collars on at time of rescue indicating they were once someone’s loved pet. The majority of Thai people would never think of causing harm to a sentient being due to their Buddhist roots and most in Thailand weren’t even aware of this barbaric practice. The SDF was very smart in how they attacked their campaign against the trade – they took a two-pronged approach – they pressured the government to implement and enforce laws against the trade and they started a public awareness campaign using billboards to educate the Thai people. This led to a huge grass roots movement which had immense success in pressuring the government and roadblocking transport vehicles.