Snow/Thai Snow (Adopted!)

*** UPDATE!! ***

December 2013
Soot Liang Woo and her hubby said goodbye to their dear foster boy, Snow (now Thai Snow) early last week in Bangkok, Thailand. 

Snow, along with Ginger and Me-Rak - all victims of the dog meat trade (Me-Rak is one of Mona's babies) - traveled to Chicago's O'Hare Airport this past Wednesday, December 19. Dawn and Chuck eagerly greeted them and took them for their very first walks in snow's namesake...brrrrrr! 

Then they all went home with Dawn, where they spent two nights acclimating to this new country and culture.



This morning, Friday the 20th, they had a quick visit to the vet for a final check-up (thumbs ups all around)…

...and then off they all went to points north - a veritable canine caravan!

Snow was the first one to be united with his forever family - Chelsea and Aaron - in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His new family was well-prepared, and Snow had his choice of toys, treats, and bones awaiting him upon his arrival (not to mention, this snazzy new jacket).



Tonight, Snow's family has already updated us to let us know how well he is doing in their home. Dad Aaron got home not longer after Snow's arrival, and as you can see, the two hit it off immediately! 



He has taken a get-acquainted walk around the neighborhood, and even a short jog - his new mom and dad love to run, and hope he will be a future workout partner. He likes playing with his new squeaky toys and balls, although the bone pictured here seems to be his favorite!



Welcome home at last, dear Snow! Your long journey is finally complete.

Thank you to all who made this possible, from Soot Liang Woo for pulling, transporting, vetting, and fostering this sweet boy; to kind-hearted international supporters for donating towards his medical costs and flight funding; to the Kolterjahn family, for welcoming dear Snow into their hearts and home with open arms, ready to adore this deserving little boy.

* * * * *

My name is Snow.

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 shoulder-to-shoulder into a cruel crush cage, 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.

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.

Few of us make it out alive…but somehow, I did.

My first stroke of luck was a chance encounter with a kind Thai photographer who volunteers her time nearly every weekend to travel many long hours by bus to and from these livestock centers. Her photos of our desperate faces go out regularly to a global audience, and a few lucky souls are picked for sponsorship or adoption, crucial steps needed to save our lives. 

In my case, somebody raised their hand for me. Somebody said, "I pick him." Somebody was going to help me, maybe even adopt me. And at first, everything went according to plan. Though I didn't know it at the time, of course…I was too busy fighting to survive in the wall-to-wall overcrowded livestock center where I was hungry every day for lack of food, and so depressed, I found it hard to believe in any kind of future.

But unbeknownst to me, arrangements were being made to transport a lucky handful of us out of Nakhon Phanom, to bustling Bangkok, where we would begin amazing new journeys.

On a day like any other, as I pressed my face mournfully through the chain link fence to look longingly out at the big wide world, and as I wondered why I had been fated to suffer so in my short life, I heard kind voices approaching.

Humans are always cause for great excitement at Nakhon Phanom, and this was no exception. I do so love people! Hungry for affection, I ran to the kind people, and was amazed when not only did they pet me and speak kindly to me, but they looped a bit of rope around my neck and began to walk me alongside them. What was happening? Where were we going?

I was confused, but excited. I am a born optimist, and I had no doubts, from their smiling, jubilant expressions, that something good was in store for me.

My time at the Bangkok clinic was a little confusing for me, though. The vet and his assistant were gentle, wonderful, and affectionate, but they were caring for so many of us that they often looked sad that they there was not time to sit and pet all of us each day. And then time ticked by slowly…hours turned to days…days to weeks…

I was all better now, and was gaining weight and muscle mass again, due to the wonderful nutrition and top-notch medical care I was receiving. I'm now close to 22 lbs, up so much from the starved state I reached at Nakhon Phanom!

But despite everything, I couldn't understand why I had to spend most of my day in a cage. I loved my soft blanket and all the fresh water and yummy food I wanted, but I wondered if this was what the rest of my life was going to be like. Little did I know that the person who had sponsored me had inexplicably changed their mind, hence the limbo I found myself in.

This is where my awesome foster mom, sweet Soot Liang Woo, intervened and changed the course of my whole life. She heard of my plight from the kind veterinarian and his assistant who had given me such wonderful care - despite knowing they would not be paid for it, once the sponsor reneged - and Soot knew immediately that she would help me.

She came to the clinic, met me...and we were instant friends! I love people, and who wouldn't love Soot? She is truly an angel to the animals, and I sensed that from the first millisecond that I met her. 

Soot had me groomed and - lo and behold! - underneath my matted, filthy, tangled, smelly coat was a gorgeous, handsome poodle mix. 

She found me a foster home, and when space in her own house opened up, she brought me home with her where I have stayed ever since.

It's heavenly here at Soot's house! 

She gives me lots of love and affection, which is what I've craved for my entire life…and to repay her, I have assigned myself to be her official shadow. She is not to be let out of my sight. I like to accompany her on every adventure, big and small - from "helping" her throw out the trash, to jogging alongside her bike. And she has a bunch of doggies here that are so much fun to play with, which is great for me because I sure do love to play!

I have a voice, and I like to use it when I'm happy and excited! I'm wonderful with other dogs and like to greet strange pooches with a silly, submissive, floppy belly exposure. But give me a few minutes to gain my confidence, and I'm happily running and wrestling with the best of them in Soot's lush, tropical garden.

Life here is a blast. But I catch Soot looking at me sometimes with a mixture of sadness and joy, and a look of wishful hope in her eyes, and I know we're on the same wavelength. 

I will never ever forget my beloved foster mommy, but I'm ready to finally find a home and a family I can call my very own.

I've waited my whole life for this, and I have so much love to give. Now if only I could find my forever family so I can start giving it!

For more information about adopting Snow, 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 they had enough of us to satisfy their greed and justify an legal smuggling run across the border.

 One day, 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.

Thank you for reading my story.

Love, Snow