Si Tao (Adopted!)

My name is Si Tao.

My fate appeared sealed the moment I was snatched off the streets of Thailand in the summer of 2013. 
I was destined to be stashed in a hidden underground pit along with many others, until enough of us were collected to satisfy the smugglers' shipment needs. I was then fated to be crammed into cruel crush cages along with many others, hidden under heavy tarps, and driven under cover of night through extreme jungle heat to an illegal river crossing out of Thailand, and to more suffocating truck transport on the other side - days more - into southeast Asian meat markets where people could wander through and pick which of us they wanted for a luxury meal.

That was my fate. And I was really just a baby - only one and a half years young.

But then my luck changed…

Our smuggling shipment was apprehended by suspicious Thai Royal Police before the border crossing could be made. In our terrorized and confused state, we had no idea that we had just been saved. We only knew that we remained crushed into cages, packed like live sardines in tins, while our truck was changing direction, driving back the way we came, back into our home nation of Thailand, and back to safety. 

Sadly - though there are so very many of us who have been saved recently, thanks to stepped-up efforts and a call for change heard round the world - once saved, there is very little room left for us to inhabit. There are just a few government livestock centers around the nation where we are brought to, once "rescued". We were delivered to Nakhon Phanom, a large shelter in the northern part of the nation.

Tragically, for many of us, being 'saved' can also ironically be our death sentence. We often struggle to survive in our new confines, where food and space are scarce and often fought for, where disease runs rampant, where medical care's availability is always outstripped by the needs of so many of us, and where overworked staff is limited by their low numbers and our high population.

I was saved, yes - but weakened by the terrible time I spent in that dank, terrifying pit in the ground, and then the crush cage transport. To make matters worse, I fell seriously ill with a strain of canine influenza that my weakened immune system simply could not fight anymore. I was so dehydrated from lack of clean water, starved to a dangerously-low weight, and on the edge from the extreme daily stress of life in Nakhon Phanom. On the morning of August 12, 2013, I lay down along one of the border fences of the shelter, closed my eyes, and decided to give in to the calm, beautiful light beckoning me from somewhere in the back of my mind.

Suddenly, a loud ruckus was raised around me. People were coming - visitors! This was always cause for great excitement at the shelter - a change from our stressful, resource-strapped, daily subsistence. As other dogs crowded around me, barking excitedly and pressing themselves as close to the chain link as possible to see the humans, I closed my eyes, too weak to fight back against the surge of their bodies which shoved me partially out from under the lower perimeter of the fence. 

The end was near for me, and I welcomed it. I had no more strength left to fight.

But then - a miracle occurred.

The humans, as it turned out, were compassionate volunteers from Thailand's largest animal welfare organization - the Soi Dog Foundation. They worked with the Bangkok arm of the organization, and had been asked to visit our shelter on an emergency grooming mission. So many of us with long or curly hair were matted to the point where we could hardly move. Many of us had skin infections and open sores from tangled hair coats.

But in my case, I drew the team's attention not so much because of my coat condition (though I WAS a mess), but because of the state I was in. As one human from the group approached me, near tears, and put her hand out to me, I felt her grief and her desire to help me. I am a Dog, mankind's most loyal friend, and deep within me, I heard the call to duty. With all my effort, I was able to raise my head, touch her with my nose, and let her know I understood her pain. I gently licked her outstretched hand in an attempt to console her.

Instantly, the team saw I was alive still, and flew into action. They knew they were unable to abandon me in such a state. I was rushed to another part of the clinic for rudimentary medical intervention, which surely saved my life. Meanwhile, the team quickly arranged emergency transport for me, which would bring me to the shelter in Bangkok and their high-tech medical facility as soon as I was able to travel. 

Amazingly, everything fell into place for me. I stabilized thanks to the treatment at Nakhon Phanom, and arrived at Soi Dog's Bangkok shelter for intensive care in no time at all.

I have since regained my full health, got neutered and vaccinated, was beautifully-groomed, and am now in a foster home with Pimpakharn, the director of Soi Dog Bangkok's shelter. Who would have known that a very handsome silver-and-gray boy with soulful chocolate eyes was hiding beneath my matted coat and sick demeanor! And best of all - with my exuberant appetite and all the food I can eat these days, I am a healthy, perfect weight of 33 lbs, from the 19 lbs I weighed at my worst point, in Nakhon Phanom.

I love my life here at Pimpakharn's house, but there are a lot of large male dogs here, and sometimes other big boys make me nervous. There were so many of them at Nakhon Phanom, and many were not friendly to me because of the extreme competition for food and resources there. So while I love her and am enjoying life to the fullest here, I'm excited to know there might be some forever people out there somewhere just waiting for me to complete their family! 

Recently, Dawn from the International Street Dog Foundation visited Thailand and met me. She fell head over heels for me, as you can see by this photo! 

ISDF is determined to help write my happy ending - and now their dear friend and partner, Marjon, from Give a Dog a Bone in Boston, USA has committed to helping fundraise for my flight costs, too. Such exciting news! 

Now all I need is for a perfect home to step up…do you think it could be yours?

For more information about adopting Si Tao, or any of our available dogs, please contact Dawn Trimmel at (414) 426-4148. Thank you!

I am a victim of the dog meat trade.

I grew up on the streets of Thailand, in a "survival of the fittest" climate, where I had to fend for food and avoid many dangers. 

One day, some men approached me while I slept and tossed a wire lasso over my head. As I awoke, struggling and snapping with fear, they used a long stick with crude pincers attached to the end of it to lift me and then dump me into a truck.

Lots of other terrified dogs were in the truck alongside me. We were driven into a dense jungle-like area, away from main roads and towns. Tropical trees provided cover as the same horrid men used the wire lassos and pincers on us again, this time to grab us and drop us into a pit. We fell through the air for a terrifying moment, then landed on a hard concrete floor. Some of us were injured in the fall; all of us were terrorized.

The pit cover was replaced once we were all inside it, and hardly any light penetrated from above. There was no food or water in our hot, dark, claustrophobic jail, and nowhere to escape. But we didn't fight one another or really do much of anything other than freeze with fear - we were all too traumatized.

Over the next couple of days, the pit cover opened a few times, light blinded us from above, and more dogs were dropped in amongst us until the men apparently decided that had enough of us to satisfy their greed and justify an legal smuggling run across the border.

 There was the sound of the pit cover opening again, and as we all blinked, blinded once again by the light, expecting more dogs to drop down amongst us, the long pincer stick returned instead. We were grabbed around the neck once more, and then shoved into a new form of torture - a compact "crush cage" - with many other dogs. 

The cages were set on end and we were dropped in and shoved and packed like sardines until limbs and tails emerged from between the wire bars and we were nearly suffocating from such close quarters. None of us could move more than literally one inch in any direction. 

Then our crush cages were piled high onto the flatbed of a truck, with more and more cages on top of, and around the sides of, ours. Many of us lost limbs and tails in crushing injuries as the staggering weight stacked higher and higher.

In order to conceal us - live contraband intended for smuggling cross-country and over two border crossings - a heavy, non-breathable tarp was thrown over the entire truck's cargo, cutting off even our access to fresh air - the last resource we had.

We sat on that truck for a long time. I was so dazed and disoriented that it could have been hours or it could have been days - I really can't say for sure. I guess they were waiting for an all clear signal from they boss. They drank water noisily from bottles as they laughed and joked near our truck and we watched them with desperate eyes because of course, during this time, we had been under terrible stress and had not had food or water for a dangerously-long period of time. 

I was certain that the end must be near - I was sure I would suffocate from the heat, from this extreme overcrowding, and from the long stretch of time that slowly ticked by. Indeed, many dogs around me perished.

It was evening, as dusk fell, when our truck finally rumbled to life and attempted to make a run northward for the border. The smugglers were headed for Vietnam, by way of Laos. But near the river's edge which separated Thailand from Laos, where we would have once again been thrown about like so much live garbage - this time into overcrowded smuggling boats - new sounds reached deep into our desolate quarters, inspiring fresh apprehension to those of us still alive and still conscious.

Voices - angry and commanding - fell upon our ears.  We were frightened, but not for long. Much to my surprise, we were rescued that day, and I owe my life to the caring individuals and government officials who came together to save us all from yet more suffering in an extended transport, and eventual slow torture and death, to be someone's adrenaline-infused meal (which some cultures consider good for one's health and virility). 

I am forever grateful to our saviors. A few of the Royal Police even cracked open water bottles and tried their best to proffer sips to those of us in cages with access to bars facing them. But there was too little water and too many dogs. And anyway, it would be a long while before we could even be released from our terrifying confines.

We were slowly transported another long distance, still in those horrible crush cages, still packed like sardines - it seemed to take forever. I was in so much pain and filled with claustrophobic terror - what next??

We ended up at the Nakhon Phanom government-run shelter, one of several large livestock centers in the Thai nation. There, our cages were unloaded with the use of cranes, hoists and manpower. One by one, our cage wires were cut and we literally had to be unpacked and unfolded from the positions we had been held prisoner in for so many long and torturous days.

Next, those of us who could stand and move still were herded into a large dog kennel. To be able to move freely again, and to have access to large vats of water and a long trough with food, was nothing short of miraculous, after all I had endured.

But although my life was marginally-improved now that I'd been "saved", we all still suffered - this time from widespread disease and massive overcrowding. Food was scarce; we lived practically one on top of the other; dog fights were frequent and often vicious; and there was little to no medical attention available. Once again, I was surrounded by terrible suffering and watched as many fellow dogs died around me at a rapid rate.

A long, frightening, sad period of my life passed here. I wondered if my whole life would play out behind these bars, and I shivered with fear to imagine such a fate.

But somehow, through some magical stroke of fate, Lady Luck intervened on my behalf. Someone, somewhere, saw my photo, looked into my eyes, and knew that they could not leave me behind.

For the first time in my strife-filled life, I am seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. In my foster home in Bangkok, I am being shown kindness and affection; I am learning confidence, and polishing my manners; and I am discovering the meaning of family, and the meaning of love. It has been a glimpse into a life I never even knew existed: lives where doggies have homes and families to call their very own, lives where they will never know fear again. 

It's a life I so desperately want now…but one which will be brand-new to me and often confusing. I have so much to learn about life as a pet dog. I know I can do it - I've made it this far already! - but please, won't you gently show me the ropes, and have patience with me when I make missteps sometimes, as I surely will? In return, I will repay you a thousandfold.

I just need a fair chance at a life I could only dream of when I was that terrified dog, crammed into a crate, baking alive in the tropical heat, who had given up all hope.

Thanks for reading my story.

Love, Si Tao