Rescue dog heads to new home in Khon Kaen
published : 29 Apr 2019 at 00:39
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Assawin Pakkawan
Seafaring dog Boonrod is heading to a new life in Khon Kaen with his new owner -- one of the oil rig workers who rescued him from the ocean in a story that captured international attention.
"We're leaving," owner Vitisak Payalaw posted in a message on the Boonrod Facebook page on Saturday evening.
Mr Vitisak, an offshore planner of Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, met Boonrod -- "survivor" in Thai -- on Saturday for the first time since the team found him clinging to an oil platform in the Gulf of Thailand about 220km from the shore in Songkhla on April 12.
How Boonrod got there remains a mystery, but it is believed that he must have fallen off a trawler. After helping rescue the deepwater dog, Mr Vitisak offered to be his new owner.
The exhausted animal was brought ashore on April 15 and lodged at Dog Smile House, a shelter in Hat Yai district of the southern province, with financial support from the US oil firm and Watchdog Thailand, a non-profit group.
Boonrod appeared delighted to see Mr Vitisak and the other members of the oil rig team who rescued him.
Boonrod was rescued over 200km from the Songkhla shore on April 12. (Reuters video)
Mr Vitisak said he was taking annual leave from his work at the oil platform to transport the dog to his home in Khon Kaen, almost 1,500km from Hat Yai. The house in the northeastern province has been prepared to accomodate a new resident, the Chevron employee added.
Mr Vitisak asked for privacy and requested that well-wishers not visit his new pet at his parents' home in Khon Kaen. But fans are welcome to greet Boonrod when he walks the dog, he added.
He also encouraged other animal lovers to adopt pets if they can.
The story of Boonrod was carried by global news agencies, including CNN. He can be followed on his Facebook page.
Learn from listening
Vocabulary
- adopt: to take someone else’s child into your family and legally make him or her your own child - รับเลี้ยงเป็นลูก
- cling: to hold on to something tightly - ติดแน่น
- exhausted: extremely tired - เหน็ดเหนื่อย
- mystery: not explained or known - สิ่งที่ไม่สามารถอธิบายได้, ความแปลกประหลาด, ลึกลับ
- offshore: happening or existing in the sea, not far from the land - ซึ่งอยู่ห่างจากฝั่ง, ที่อยู่นอกฝั่ง
- oil rig: a large structure which is used for removing oil or gas from the ground or the bottom of the sea - อุปกรณ์ขุดเจาะน้ำมัน
- survivor: someone who still exists after an event that could have killed or destroyed them - ผู้รอดชีวิต
- trawler (noun): a boat used for fishing by pulling a large net through the water - เรืออวนลาก
- well-wisher: a person who expresses their good wishes or sympathy, often to someone who they do not know - ผู้ปรารถนาดีต่อผู้อื่น
- Keywords
- dog
- oil
- oil platform
- oil rig