(TH) The Atigaro Project

[Guest guest]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/

 

Reining in cats and dogs

 

In Phuket, one woman's dream is solving a whole island's problem

 

Story and pictures by KATE ROPE

 

Alison Montgomery is living out a dream _ literally. The young Australian

veterinarian arrived in Phuket for a six-day honeymoon back in 1999. On her

second day on the resort island, while her husband relaxed at the bar, she

lay down for a nap. Still upset by the condition of the multitude of stray

dogs she had seen roaming the island, Montgomery nodded off. Only to have a

very vivid dream in which she saw herself staying on in Phuket to help those

dogs.

 

And that's exactly how it turned out. Two years on, Montgomery has made a

significant dent in a problem that overwhelms not only Phuket, but all of

Thailand.

 

Government estimates put the number of stray animals in Phuket at more than

3,000. Montgomery thinks that that figure well underestimates the problem,

possibly by as much as 10,000. The animals suffer from malnutrition, skin

diseases _ and worse, posing health hazards to the people in whose

communities they live. Left to their beastly ways, they breed rampantly,

compounding the problem exponentially.

 

Children watch as Kate Smith neuters a young male dog.

On the fourth day of her honeymoon, Montgomery left her husband, Adam, to

enjoy the sand and sun and set off to find a local organisation which feeds

and vaccinates stray animals and treats their ailments. There, the

hard-pressed volunteers gave her a warm welcome. They told her they

desperately needed a vet and begged her to consider joining them on a

permanent basis. Later, after discussing the matter with Adam, Montgomery

decided she would stay on provided that he was able to find a job. And, as

if that dream of hers wasn't fateful enough, by the end of the day, Adam had

learned about a perfect job opening: as a physical-education trainer at an

elite hotel. It really did seem as if the couple were meant to stay in

Phuket.

 

One year later, Montgomery had grown weary of putting band-aids on the

island's stray-animal problem. She decided that the only way to tackle it

effectively was to spay and neuter as many dogs as she could find. So she

struck out on her own, rented a truck and started doing the rounds of

beaches, poor neighbourhoods and Buddhist temples which give refuge to

strays. Over this period she reckons she managed to sterilise close to 2,000

dogs.

 

In the interim, she had become friendly with Phra Atigaro, a monk in his 50s

who shared her concern for the homeless animals of Phuket. He was giving

shelter to more than 40 dogs at the temple where he was based. But, while

Montgomery was away from the island _ she had taken a six-month

``sabbatical'' to do some travelling _ Phra Atigaro passed away. Montgomery

was deeply saddened to hear that local officials had put down some of the

dogs he'd been caring for.

 

 

Volunteers administer anaesthetic in the makeshift animal surgery.

She returned to Phuket in December 2000, a galvanised woman. She put her

stray-animal project on a official footing, naming it after her late friend,

and began contacting vets around the world, asking them to volunteer their

time. With scant resources and the most basic of equipment, she again took

to the streets of Phuket. Since then, the Atigaro Project has sterilised

almost 800 animals. Four to five times a week, vets from all over the globe

drop in to give a hand, sneaking a short holiday in between their altruistic

efforts. A typical day for project volunteers looks like this:

 

Kay Richmond, the overall coordinator for the project, rounds up the

visiting vets from hotels across the island (some of which help out by

providing free accommodation), piles them into a pick-up and heads to the

area selected for the day's work. The day we visited the destination was a

sea gypsy settlement on Koh Sirey, a tiny island close to Phuket. Apart from

Richmond and Montgomery, the team comprises Porntippa Koret, the project's

Thai coordinator, two vets from Australia, another from the United Kingdom,

and a long-standing volunteer named Asanee Pruekprathin.

 

The set-up is very basic. In the open pavilion used for village ceremonies,

the vets arrange simple wooden tables and cover them with newspaper. Ten

bins hold all the necessary equipment. Disinfectant is poured into buckets

and diluted with water. One corner of the concrete floor of the sala is set

aside as the recovery ``room''.

 

As soon as she hops out of the truck, Montgomery spots a chipper young male

dog which has been attracted by the goings-on. A man standing nearby gives

permission and the first patient of the day is cajoled into a cage to await

surgery. While the vets set up an efficient assembly line, Porntippa and

Richmond head into the village with more cages to round up other

unsuspecting candidates. A sedative is administered to relax the animal and

make it void its bowels. Then a small area of its fur is shaved and an

anaesthetic is injected.

 

``It's a very old-fashioned type of anaesthetic ... something that James

Herriot [author of All Creatures Great and Small] may well have used,'' says

Montgomery laughing. ``But, it's all we've got. It's economical, and the

animals do remarkably well on it.''

 

Once the dogs are sleeping peacefully, tongues drooping out of mouths,

oblivious to what is to befall them, they are moved to the operating tables.

Depending on the size, age and sex of the patient, an operation can take

anywhere from five to 20 minutes. As soon as the animal has been stitched

up, it is lifted over to the recovery area to wake up on its own. Minutes

later the next patient is on the table.

 

A crowd gathers to watch the vets work. Village elders, gangs of wide-eyed

children, and even a post-operative patient from two days before _ a young

dog suffering from mange and insatiable curiosity, look on with interest.

The children eagerly volunteer to help round up animals. Villagers disappear

and reappear with more candidates for surgery.

 

Porntippa shows the children colouring books that explain responsible pet

care and stress the importance of treating animals well. She hands out

crayons and sets them to work, competing to see who can come up with the

prettiest picture. Amid all the hustle and bustle, the vets work quietly.

They manage to stay focused on the job in hand regardless of how many eyes

might be peeking over their shoulders.

 

Anita Tomasov and David Coyle, a recently engaged couple from Australia, are

busy getting their hands busy. David is spaying a bitch and Anita is

desexing a young tom-cat. You'd never guess that only last week they were

elephant trekking. Today is their fifth straight day of surgery. They're

enjoying the work so much they've decided to change the date of their return

flight so that they can spend three more days with the project.

 

``It's been a great way to spend a holiday,'' says David, ``spending time

with real locals and really getting to see the country.''

 

For Kate Smith, a 29-year-old veterinarian from the United Kingdom, the

experience has been ``amazing''.

 

``You have hundreds of locals and kids peering in while you work, which adds

to the excitement. I've worked at temples, fire stations, taxi-rental places

.... Every day is a new experience.''

 

Montgomery, who now runs the project in absentia from Hong Kong, is happy to

be back in the field. She's in no hurry to return to Hong Kong.

 

``People say to me, how boring that must be, desexing animals all day. But,

it's just the opposite, there is always something happening. Like, you're

operating in a karaoke bar while people are getting pissed next to you or

it's 11am and you've got your hands in a dog's abdomen while monks inside

the temple begin to chant and the dogs join in howling. It's beautiful. This

is my dream job, working in the heat with mangy mutts and pregnant pusses.

Can I stay?'' she asks playfully.

 

But, for now anyway, Montgomery must return to her private practice in Hong

Kong. There, she spends a good deal of her spare time emailing potential

volunteer vets and soliciting donations from around the world. She says

she's especially keen to get Thai veterinarians involved.

 

The Atigaro Project is run on next to nothing. Montgomery started out with

seed capital of 63,000 baht, a donation from Laguna Phuket Resorts and

Hotels. The government provides anaesthetic and other basic medical supplies

free of charge. But there's no money to pay the vets. Even Richmond, the

project's full-time coordinator, works gratis. The project is in desperate

need of a vehicle (it currently relies on Richmond's car) and a permanent

place to house volunteer vets and an office. Today one of the volunteers

makes a 1,500 baht donation. The Laguna Phuket group recently pitched in

with another 50,000. But that's not nearly enough. Many of the donations

come from passing tourists attracted by the bizarre spectacle of five

veterinarians cutting open animals in the middle of a beach town. ``We've

even had tourists in Speedos pitch in to help!'' Montgomery says.

 

But without more funding to cover expenses Richmond will have to give up her

job within a year, leaving a void which may or may not be filled. And

Montgomery wants to expand the project; she would like to dispatch

volunteers to schools around Phuket to make children aware of the importance

of sterilising family pets. ``Without education, it doesn't matter how many

animals we desex, the problem won't be solved,'' she says.

 

But thanks to Montgomery's honeymoon dream, Phuket is a lot closer to a

solution to one of Thailand's most intractable problems. ``This is a very

good programme,'' says Viraparp Termkietpaisan, a veterinarian with the

local Department of Livestock office. ``It has helped a lot with the problem

of strays in Phuket.''

 

That day on Koh Sirey, the four vets managed to spay a total of 20 animals.

They look on with satisfaction as their patients awaken and, somewhat

groggily, return to their life on the streets.

 

For Montgomery, Phuket is just the beginning. ``Now my dream is to bring

this project somewhere else,'' she says. ``In 2003, Bangkok will host the

World Small Animal Veterinary Association Congress. I want to show how the

Atigaro Project has made a difference. I sincerely hope that people will

bring similar projects to other parts of Southeast Asia.''

Info for donations:

 

- Name of organisation: The Atigaro Project, P.O. Box 146, Phuket, Thailand

83000

- Contact person: Kay Richmond

- Telephone: 076-381-379 or 09-971-8947

- Web site: www.thaiwave.com/atigaro

- Email: atigaroproject Triodos Bank, Brunel House; 11 The Promenade,

Bristol, BS8 3NN, United Kingdom.

- Account name: Atigaro Project.

- Account number: 03584200