Help Suffering Animals Get Medical Treatment

More animals will be rescued and provided treatment, thanks to this project upgrade

I’m very pleased to tell you all that this project for funding for a dedicated ambulance with rescue equipment, was upgraded this week to include the revamping of our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and our Isolation area (ISO).

Due to the Coronavirus and the absence of tourists here on Koh Lanta, many of the animals that were cared for by the resorts and tourists are now abandoned.  They are not only without food, they now face the spread of disease due to the areas where they live being empty, and not maintained for.

So many animals coming into our facility now are diseased and need special treatments and care.  Our ICU and ISO areas are overcrowded.  We have been considering expanding them for a while and now is the time to start planning and raising the needed funds.

Our Kitty City Project was at 95% funding with the remaining money for completing its education area.  We have realized that it will be a while before we have any school tours, so Kitty City is really basically complete.  It was time to end that project.  Some of you have been moved to this project, so I thought I should explain why that project was deactivated.

This project is now for funding rescue animals from when we pick them up, and through their treatment and stay in our hospital.  I hope you see the value of combining the ICU/ISO expansion, with our need for a dedicated equipped rescue ambulance.  This project is going to improve the ‘lifecycle’ of our animal rescue operations:  we’ll be able to get them medical care quicker, and provide specialize treatments to meet the growing rescue needs of our community.

Impact of the Coronavirus on the Animals

We are in the middle of a global pandemic. Coronavirus is sweeping the world, causing many issues for every type of organization, and this includes Lanta Animal Welfare.

In January when news broke of the virus, like everyone else we hoped that we would not be directly affected.  Thailand has minimal cases and was not yet a high risk area.  As we are a nonprofit charity, we rely heavily on the compassion and generosity of volunteers to run our centre and save rescue animals from the worst kind of hardship. We receive volunteers from all over the world and without them we can't feed the 100+ animals, nor can we care for those in critical condition, or even take them all for walks. It is just not possible.

Impact of travel restrictions 

Due to travel restrictions we have had our incoming volunteers cancel, and the volunteers that were with us returned to their countries.  Without volunteers, and without the visitors that support us and donate, the animals suffer.  We are now trying to care for all the animals with our staff and managers.  This means that 7 people are now doing the work of 25.  

We’ve had to close our Centre to protect our medical staff.  This means that we have no visitors coming to meet the animals and hear the rescue stories.  Without visitors we get no onsite donations to our cause so that more animals can be saved.

Situation for stray animals

The situation for stray animals here is worsening.  Our animal rescue catchers are restricted from traveling to the south end and adjacent islands.  We are also planning an outreach program to provide food for animals and help our community care for the strays that now have no-one else.  We need to encourage locals in these areas to feed the strays and ease the suffering of those injured.

Due to the COVID-19 outbreak the animals are facing a potentially devastating future.  Here on Koh Lanta, there are so many street cats and dogs that desperately need food and care.  The tourists have now left, and the Centre has closed to the public.   We receive no donations, but the demand on our rescue activities is higher than ever.  We have no volunteers and cannot accept any outside help, as the risk is too high of virus spread.  We are really struggling.

Please consider donating here, or with our other projects, to help us get through this pandemic.  Your gift will buy additional medicines, cages and more food supplies to accommodate more strays.

The next few months will be crucial for stray animals in Thailand.  They need help until COVID-19 declines and businesses can reopen as the strays rely on them to survive. 

Even Sparky is making an appearance

We can even see the effects of this situation on our doorstep.  Sparky is a known stray that lives on some barren land locally.  He was rarely seen until now, but over the past few weeks he has become weak and now visits our door in the mornings hoping to have some food.  The poor thing is starving.

Every day this is becoming more common around the island and further afield. The bars and restaurants have closed, meaning beautiful dogs like Sparky are beginning to roam from their territory in search of food. This can lead to attacks from people, poisoning, dog fights, infections and disease.

Hard times for us all, especially for the stray animals

We must continue through these hard times.  With no news on when restrictions could be lifted and more calls and messages daily about abandoned and starving animals, we need to act now and continue to do as much as our funding provides. 

The government has provided no funding and unfortunately never will. This means all of our support comes from the generosity of animal lovers like you.

If you can help, PLEASE do it now before it's too late for them.  We do not want to turn any desperate animal away.