The Center

Asia » Thailand
April 3rd 2014

Published: April 3rd 2014

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maygee

Main Reception area

The center is about five minutes from the main road, surrounded by Jungle area with some local people living nearby,there is also a rubber plantation. I love the sounds, birds, monkeys and thousands of insects.Sitting listening to the crickets just now, sounds amazing and so loud. Have managed to get some pictures of the center to give you an idea of what it looks like. There is a main reception area where visitors and people requiring treatment for their pets. It has two consultation rooms, a surgery and a recovery area for the animals which have been operated on and where the sterilisations take place. A small corridor leads to the huge kitchen area where everyone meets and where the shifts take place from, it is the hub of the center and as you will see from photographs how closely the volunteers live with the animals. The kennel area extends from here and around the perimeter are the large areas where the dogs roam during the day. To the right hand side of the center is the puppy area, the quarantine area and isolation. The cat house is attached to the volunteer quarters and the cats hang around here all day

Volunteer accomodation

I'm room number two

roaming where they want, they tend to stay within the center even although there is no fence. The dogs are walked daily and as we have to keep the packs apart it imperative that we know where each group is, this is marked clearly on a board and we have three areas which we take them too, Pumpkin lane, the beach or the river walk. We work from two large white boards which have all the daily tasks written out on them, as you'll see they are varied and many. The work is hard and sweaty but so rewarding, everyone mucks in, emphasis being on the muck lol! As well as the daily tasks there are weekly tasks too. Have had a turn at most of the tasks now and its becoming second nature I particularly like working in isolation taking care of the sick animals. We have had a few animals in with Parvo virus but it seems to have been contained, unfortunately a few of the cats died. We recently had a stray dog( Smiler) come in who lives with a pack on one of the beaches, well known and loved and fed by locals. He was found

Kitchen

Clare cleaning up at end of shift, zoom in on the sinks, humans to the left animals to the right!

to have a broken jaw, which was treated at a nearby clinic and is staying with us, recovering well. A few of the locals have visited him. The visitors continue to come to the center to walk or pet the dogs and I gave my first guided tour without stuttering LOL! Who'd have thought it. The center is recommended by Tripadvisor as the number one attraction on Koh Lanta and the tourists come from far and wide, many of them adopting the dogs and the cats. The costs are very reasonable and a lot cheaper than I'd imagined, just as well being that the island is populated mostly by Muslims and the dogs aren't easy to re-home here. The center is run entirely on donations from the public and profits from Time for Lime restaurant, if anybody is interested in donating please check out their website. Thanks to those who have already contributed, it goes to such good use. There is also a friends of facebook page so check it out.

Additional photos below

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