Web helps pets find relief

Bangkok, December 5, 2011(Tehelkanews)

When the floodwaters came up to her chin, Karuna Leuangleekpai knew she had to abandon her house on the outskirts of Bangkok. But she had no idea what to do with her seven dogs.



Through Facebook, she heard about a flood evacuation shelter for pets run by veterinary student volunteers in the capital, so she crammed her soaking wet dogs into her car and went to seek help.



"The water was above my head when we left the house —the dogs were swimming around. That was over a month ago and my house is still underwater," Ms. Karuna told AFP.



"I\'m glad to have found this shelter for them — I\'m staying with a friend in her apartment but there\'s no way my dogs could have fitted in too."



Three months of unusually heavy monsoon rains have inundated large swathes of Thailand, killing more than 650 people and affecting the homes and livelihoods of millions. But it is not just humans who have been suffering during the kingdom\'s worst floods in half a century — tens of thousands of pets and stray cats and dogs have also been stranded as water levels rise.



Their plight has prompted an outpouring of sympathy from city residents, who have mobilised using Facebook and Twitter to set up animal shelters, organise "pet rescue" patrols and provide free medical care to flood-hit pets.



"We knew that the floods would make it hard for owners to care for their pets and we felt we had to help," said veterinary student Mataya Taweechart, adding that the animal shelter was set up and run by students and volunteers.



Waters are now receding in many areas, but for people in some of the capital\'s suburbs, the misery continues and there is little sign that the supposedly — temporary pet shelter will be able to shut soon, she said.



"We are using an abandoned government building, we can\'t stay long. But some areas of the city are still flooded, so we still have a lot of animals," she told AFP as she bottle-fed a two-day-old kitten.



The shelter in Bangkok\'s Maen Si district runs on donations of cash and food. The service is free and most people hear about the shelter —and alert them to cases of abandoned animals — through Facebook, she said.



Most of the some 500 animals at the shelter have owners, but some — like the kittens, which were left in a cardboard box outside — have been abandoned.


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