Since its inception, Wildlife Friends Foundation has given shelter to thousands of wild animals. Many of these animals are rehabilitated and released back to the wild. Those that cannot be released are provided with shelter at the Wildlife Rescue Center of WFFT for the rest of their lives.
Thailand has a rich, biological diversity. However, human pressures such as overexploitation, habitat loss and habitat degradation, are pushing many of Thailand creatures to the brink of extinction.
Furthermore, young gibbons, macaques, lorises, bears and other wild animals are commonly illegally poached from the wild to be sold as pets, tigers are used for photo props and elephants are used in other inhumane tourist attractions. WFFT is trying her best to get those animals out of the miserable conditions they are living in and to educate both local and international communities about animal welfare and wildlife conservation.
Where feasible, WFFT tries to provide the rescued animals within their care with an environment as close to their natural habitat as possible. Their overall objective will always be to rehabilitate and release these animals back to the wild. Unfortunately for the majority of the animals at the Wildlife Rescue Center, this is often difficult and in some cases, not feasible at all.
People And Animals Thailand (PAT) is the latest initiative of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand.
Located between Hua Hin and Cha Am, the new clinic was set up specifically to tackle the overpopulation of street cats and dogs in the area.
With a purpose-built operating room, using modern anesthesia and surgical techniques, the team can sterilize and vaccinate approximately 500 street animals against rabies per month.
Using these modern materials, the team can operate quickly with minimal risk of complications.
Sterilizing street animals is the most humane way to tackle the problem of overpopulation in the long term. This sterilization project is able to return animals to their area the same day, minimizing problems and improving animal welfare.
By maximizing resources, PAT can sterilize and vaccinate a street dog or cat for about 500 baht ($15) per animal.
In addition, PAT provides education to the local population and tourists to create awareness and thus reduce the street animal problem and therefore animal suffering.