Dogs saved from meat smugglers in Thailand

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2011:

BANGKOK–Accused dog trafficker Noppadon Chaiwangrot, 40, allegedly released 600 dogs into a forest on August 11,  2011 when he realized that police were about to intercept his five-truck convoy.

Then,  “After police chased the trucks,”  the Bangkok Nation reported,  “a worker threw dog cages down,  seriously injuring the animals.”   One truck was stopped in Na Thom province and the other four in Si Songkhram,  on their way to meet a ship that was to have hauled the dogs down the Mekong River for sale to Vietnamese meat markets.   Three drivers,  one of them Vietnamese,  were criminally charged.  Two drivers escaped,  but surrendered to police after the first three were released on bail.

At least 272 dogs died from starvation,  dehydration,  and violent abuse.  The Nakhon Phanom Animal Quarantine Station housed 967 survivors in facilities built for 500,  but volunteers from numerous Thai animal charities were quick to help.  Princesses Bajra Kitiyabha and Sirivannavari Nariratana led a donation drive that raised three months’ worth of food for the dogs in less than a week.