NONG KHAI - More than 100 dogs were spared at the last moment on Thursday after military police stopped and seized two truckloads of canines apparently on their way to a slaughterhouse.
In this file photo afrom December, 2012, authorities intercepted about 550 dogs about to be smuggled across the Mekong River in Mukdahan’s Wan Yai district. (Bangkok Post)
Acting on a tip-off, men from a navy shore patrol unit stopped two trucks loaded with 92 dogs in tambon Ban Duea in Muang district.
The drivers allegedly told the military police they were delivering the dogs to a slaughterhouse in Ban Hua Had, officers said.
Police then raided the slaughterhouse and found another 12 dogs kept in a cage.
Truck drivers, Suthas Saengchai, 38, and Khampliew Chantsamart, 45, and slaughterhouse operator Yaem Sufon, 52, were arrested. The drivers were charged with illegally transporting animals and Mr Yaem was charged with operating an unlicensed slaughterhouse.
Mr Yaem allegedly told officers he had been purchasing dogs at 300 baht each for slaughter for the past six years, and said he had slaughtered more than 20,000 altogether. He bought dogs from traders, and conducted a slaughter every 10 days, he said.
Customers came from nearby villages and from across the border in Laos to buy meat directly from his slaughterhouse for 40-to-60 bah per kilogramme, he said.
Mr Suthas, who had 42 dogs in a cage on the back of his pickup truck, said he travelled nearby areas to buy dogs, which some villagers gave him for free as they were unable to care for their pets. He said on average, he paid around 100 baht for a dog, and sold the animal for 300 baht.