Police are investigating the deaths of four dogs whose scorched remains were found near Ban Bang Niew Dam reservoir in Phuket last week.
Witnesses have reported that, before their deaths, they had seen the well-known local pack of dogs suffering from what seemed to be poisoning.
The news emerged yesterday when Brit expat Natasha Eldred filed a complaint with the Thalang Police about the incident.
Eldred’s complaint said that four dogs died of unnatural causes while three other puppies and two dogs were missing.
“On August 25, I found that many dogs had disappeared. Staffers from Soi Dog Foundation and I began searching for them,” Eldred explained to police.
“On August 30, four dogs’ bodies were found in the rubber tree forest about 30 to 50 meters from where we used to feed them. They had burns on their bodies.
“However, there were also witnesses that saw the dogs dying of what was likely to be poisoning,” she said.
The four dogs were living at the Ban Bang Niew Dam site since approximately March 2015, when they had been dumped there by an unknown person. They joined an existing “pack” of two parent dogs and three puppies already living at the dam, said Eldred.
The two dogs and three puppies were noticed to be missing last month ago and have not been found.
Eldred’s love for animals meant that she often walked her dog at Bang Niew Ban Dam, where she and her friends also fed the pack of stray dogs living there. She pointed out that killing these dogs breaks the 2014 Prevention of Animal Cruelty and Provision of Animal Welfare Act.
“Of course, I am beyond devastated that this has happened to these lovely dogs. They were a big part of my life and the other feeding volunteers for a long time.
“They loved cuddles, walks and we all had a really strong connection with them. They did no one any harm. Whoever did this to them is a truly violent person,” she said.
Police investigating the scene today, however, were confronted with the new problem that three of the four dogs’ bodies disappeared.
Lt. Suporn Muangkhai, of Thalang Police, said, “Today we went to the site, however only one of the dogs’ bodies was still there. The grass looks freshly cut, so the landowner might have removed them,” he said.
The investigation is ongoing.
Story: The Phuket News
