His Majesty the King has adopted 13 Great Danes, aged five months to two years, rescued after being left to starve by a breeder in Pathum Thani, the Department of Livestock Development said on Wednesday.
Animal husbandry officers from the Bureau of the Royal Household, and department deputy director-general Somchuan Rattanamangkhalanon visited Pathum Thani's livestock office to pick up the 13 canines - five males and eight females - to be nursed at Kasetsart University's animal hospital.
Three of the 13 dogs required special care due to their severe physical weakness after having been left without food for a long time before they were rescued on Tuesday, said Mr Somchuan.
The other 10 had regained strength after being nursed at the livestock office, he said. They would take a couple of weeks to fully recover their physical condition.
His Majesty has kindly adopted these dogs and they will be taken care of at the bureau's dog care centre after they recover their health, Mr Somchuan said.
On Tuesday, department director-general Sorawit Thanito said the department had rescued the dogs from a house in Lat Lum Kaeo district after receiving a tip-off via the department's DLD 4.0 smartphone application that they had been abandoned there.
The dogs were bred and raised for sale but when their owner could not sell them and ran out of money they were abandoned in cages at the house without food, said Mr Sorawit, citing information provided by a caretaker who was at the house when livestock officials arrived.
The caretaker allowed them to take the dogs away, he said.
The dog breeder will face animal cruelty charges, he said.
The department encourages the public to be vigilant for acts of animal cruelty and report them to the department via the DLD 4.0 application, he said.