NAKHON PHANOM - Residents of several villages have complained about a dog-snatching gang operating in their neighbourhood, saying they not only fear for their house pets but for their own lives as well, reports said.
They complained that thefts have increased over the past few months and believe their beloved house pets are being sent to Vietnam, where dog meat is a delicacy.
The gang operates during the night, arriving on pickup trucks and carrying sticks with a noose on the end which they use to snare the dogs and then cart them away.
In the last year, 10 pet dogs - not common village dogs - have been reported stolen from 10 villages in the area.
A village headman said he witnessed one dog snatching raid. When the thieves saw him they tried to run him over with their truck and tried to hook him with the dog noose. He felt lucky to have escaped to the safety of his home.
The villagers said they have decided to set up checkpoints to monitor people entering and leaving the villages.
There have been several arrests of dog smugglers in the past year and thousands of dogs headed across the Mekong River have been rescued from the pot.
A Nakhon Phanom livestock official said a total of 1,889 rescued dogs are currently in the quarantine station, while 1,683 had died and 1,345 had been adopted.