Complaints by former employees have prompted Wat Suan Kaew today to bar access to all organizations providing aid to the hundreds of animals it struggles to care for.
After two former employees who’d dedicated themselves to the temple while being faulted for its appalling conditions called media attention to an outbreak of ticks among dogs kept there, the temple said yesterday it would block access to all organizations that volunteer services.
READ: Inside the Dog Condo: Bangkok’s abandoned animals face nightmare conditions at Wat Suan Kaew
Since former employees Sunnee “Lek” Sukkaew and Pataew “Taew” Wanitsuto were fired and barred from the temple in November, organizations including the Soi Dog Foundation and Pet Animal Welfare Society had been overseeing steady improvements to the horrid conditions which had persisted at the temple long after it came to public attention.
“It has steadily gotten better,” said Amy Baron of PAWS. “The hoarding (of animals) has stopped. Everything overnight got better without those ladies.”
However after the former employees and volunteers staged a protest before sympathetic media recently, the beleaguered temple opted to just shut everyone out.
That’s bad news for efforts by Soi Dog, which is believed to have spent millions of baht on the temple, including a complete renovation of the Dog Condo currently underway.
That work may not be completed as hoped without Soi Dog’s oversight; meanwhile, ongoing spay/neuter efforts and other care provided by the likes of Baron and others are on hold.
A Channel 3 report yesterday aired concerns by the former employees who called attention to a recent outbreak of ticks among the dogs and complained of being barred from the temple for four months.
“We did not come here to attack,” Volunteer Boochita Dechasangsunin told reporters. “We came to cure them and give them medicine. We just want to care for them.”
Temple abbot Phra Payom Kalayano said the temple has to temporarily seal the Dog Condo, as it is being renovated.
“We’re rushing the renovation. We’re tired, but we’re doing it,” Phra Payom said. “We’re the only temple in Thailand that doesn’t build churches and cheddis. We build shelters for dogs.”
Theerawat Chantaranoo, general-secretary of Bang Yai district, said officials send in vets every Tuesday to check on the dogs and treat them. He feels rules need to be set for volunteers such as those recently protesting.
“Volunteers who want to come in and treat the animals should inform the abbot in advance and get permission first,” Theerawat said.
Photo: Coconuts TV
